Who are we?

Dastan Kasmamytov is a true globetrotter: he has lived in 5 countries, visited 50+ countries, speaks 5 languages fluently. He is a reckless adventure, who cycled from Central Asia to Germany and now plans to conquer Seven/Nine Summits.

Dastan was born in Kyrgyzstan, a fascinating country with rich nomadic history and jaw-dropping mountain sceneries. There, in his home country he learned to love nature, appreciate the beauty of it and enjoy hiking, snowboarding, mountaineering and rock-climbing.

Dastan loves sports and active life style and enjoys swimming and running in-between the epic trips to the mountains. The sports helps him to push his limits whether it is skiing in Scandinvia, paragliding in the Alps, (kite) surfing on the Canaries or running the marathon in Berlin.

In his professional life, Dastan is a programmer. He works now as a freelance developer for startups and IT companies in Germany and in the USA. He has a long academic experience behind him: he finished his Master's at Metropolitan University in Oslo (Norway), but studied also at Freie Universität - Berlin (Germany), American University in Central Asia/Bard College (Kyrgyzstan), Pierce College (USA).

Dastan is a gay activist. He was one of the first kyrgyz who openly came out in the media. This brought to backlash that forced him to continue education in Europe and to pursue a safer life.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Dastan joined expeditions to Aconcagua in South America, Elbrus in Europe, Mont Blanc in Western Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Kosciuszko / Kunama Namadgi / Jagungal in Australia, Pik Leipzig and Pik Putin in Kyrgyzstan.

Steffen is the co-founder of Pink Summits, a successful entrepreneur, who founded and led several social impact startups, digital initiatives and companies. He holds a Doctoral degree, wants to make the world a better place and now has another big goal to conquer all Seven Summits together with Dastan and others.

Steffen has some mountaineering experience, but he loves sports and regularly "tortures" himself with high intensity trainings. Steffen enjoys also snowboarding and regularly attends the gay ski and snowboard events in the Alps.

Steffen is a proud openly gay CEO of several digital companies and he was included into the Germany's Top100 Out Executives List in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Steffen joined expeditions to Elbrus in Europe, Mont Blanc in Western Europe, and Kilimanjaro in Africa (even twice!).

Christian V. is a judge at the court in Wittenberg, Germany. He is a gay mountaineer who has scaled dozens of mountains including Pik Lenin and Khan Tengri in Kyrgyzstan; Aconcagua in South America, Mont Blanc several times from different routes, Elbrus and many others in Europe. He also climbed a mountain named Pik Leipzig in Kyrgyzstan (Chris comes from Leipzig originally) which was climbed only once before him.

Chris is also fond of alpine rock and ice climbing, scuba diving, and paragliding. He also did a lot of trail running and speed hiking. His passion for the mountains and outdoor sports led him to be based partially also in Allgäu, Germany, at the forefront of the German Alps.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Christian joined expeditions to Aconcagua in South America, Mont Blanc in Western Europe, Pik Leipzig and Pik Putin in Kyrgyzstan. He had expeditions to many other mountains outside of the campain, including Elbrus in Caucausus, Pik Lenin and Pik Khan Tengri in Kyrgyzstan.

Xavier is a badass boulderer and a climate defender. His fight: energy transition. Combining efficient energy storage systems and performant renewable energies, he addresses the issues of integrating renewable energies in the German grid and developing relevant local ecosystems. Proud Alsacian, both French and German, he basically loves food and wine (but no milk), bakes cakes for all of his beloved and friends.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Mister X joined expeditions to Mont Blanc in Western Europe and Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Emilie is a Pink Summits/ Osprey Europe 2023 scholarship recipient. She is a queer woman based in Berlin, Germany with a background in grassroots political organizing and a commitment to transformative social change. As a multicultural beginner outdoors person who grew up among the Douglas firs of the U.S., Emilie loves sport climbing and backpacking. In her free time, she also enjoys the meditative aspects of swimming and being on the water. Emilie is enthusiastic about deepening the connection between outdoor adventures and inner healing, and is very excited to work with Pink Summits to help increase FLINTA* visibility and access to the outdoors.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Emilie joined the second expedition to Kyrgyzstan.

Hans Martin works in banking within capital markets on digitalization and heads up different products. He lives in the happiest country of the world, Norway and as a proper Norwegian enjoys cross-country skiing, hytteturs (hiking tours with staying in huts), and has the best equipment among all of us.

Hans Martin found recently his new passion in long-distance cycling and alpine skiing, especially if it is sunny outside. Sun is fun for him and with the first weak sun beams hitting his balcony in Oslo, he starts to grill and to chill out outside.

Hans Martin has some mountaineering experience and is a true planning guru who has everything in case if something was forgotten at home.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Hans Martin joined expeditions to Mont Blanc in Western Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Kosciuszko / Kunama Namadgi / Jagungal in Australia.

Rüdiger has left working life behind and now spends his time with all the beautiful things in life: travelling, paragliding, mountaineering and of course with his friends. Rüdiger enjoys his life to the fullest. Together with his husband he lives in the idyllical place in Saarland, Germany, and conquers the unknown places travelling from his home place with his VW Bulli. In the meantime, Rüdiger has been on numerous mountain tours, but unlike others he prefers to go downhill with a paraglider. And if the weather is right, you're welcome to fly down back to the valley in tandem with Rüdiger.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign,Rüdiger joined expeditions to Aconcagua in South America, Pik Leipzig and Pik Putin in Kyrgyzstan. Rüdiger was however on many other expeditions independently, including Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro.

Jozef lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, but originally comes from Slovakia. He is famous for being mistaken for a local in most countries he visits, although in Kyrgyzstan they are convinced he is from Uzbekistan.

Although Jozef lives in the famously flat Netherlands, he loves going to the mountains and the great outdoors. During the year, Jozef does CrossFit and bouldering, while in the summer and winter he goes to the mountains for climbing and skiing respectively.

"I like to get out of civilization at least once a year. And, as Mr. Messner pointed out, in today's world you typically need to go vertical to achieve that. Thanks to Pink Summits we can explore this world with like-minded people."

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Jozef joined the expedition to Pik Leipzig and Pik Putin in Kyrgyzstan.

Although Bjørn lives in the very flat country of Denmark, he loves going to the mountains in the Alps, Norway and sometimes even in Central Asia.

Bjørn is active in the sport of adventure racing, a team sport of 3 - 4 people involving navigation, running, mountain biking, kayaking and climbing nonstop for multiple hours or even days. A lot of Bjørns friends are also from outdoor sports and activities.

Bjørn lives with his husband in Copenhagen and they can often be found in their cosy summerhouse on the weekends. Bjørn has co-founded a LGBTQ student community in Aalborg, Denmark.

"Unfortunately, many people in the world have negative images of LGBTQ people. Being part of Pink Summits means to spread positive images of strong and capable people and meaningful human relationships." - Bjørn

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Bjørn joined the expedition to Pik Leipzig and Pik Putin in Kyrgyzstan.

Daniel is new to the Pink Summits team, but is now one of the most active supporters. Despite his young age, he has already undertaken numerous climbing and mountain tours in the Alps. For example, he also joined the expedition to Kyrgyzstan with Pink Summits. He learned to climb in the Harz Mountains and is still active there regularly. Daniel supports the campaign wholeheartedly and is a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, although he describes himself as a straight man. Thanks to his climbing activities in the Harz Mountains, we have already undertaken a number of hiking and climbing tours there led by him. The beautiful hut evenings in the Harz Mountains, which Daniels is responsible for organizing, also remain always unforgettable.

Daria has been involved in feminist activism in Kyrgyzstan since September 2013. She co-founded and coordinated Girl Activists of Kyrgyzstan initiative which received Global Girl Award in 2015 as well as other projects involving girl’s human rights advocacy. She also co-founded the first creative queer magazine for teenagers in Central Asia - Boktukorgon.

She enjoys film photography and riding a bike. She is not sure that she will be doing all Seven Summits, but she is in any case a proud part of the team taking care of many aspects that make this campaign successful.

Christian is an academic psychiatrist and psychotherapist with training from Germany, US, UK and Canada. He is an international speaker and has a special focus on palliative and end-of-life care. Christian is Assistant Professor in Palliative Care Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, UK. He is a faculty member of the Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care (GIPPEC) and the current chair of the Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe (FETE) with teaching commitments in Canada, Israel, Turkey and Germany.

Christian is driven by studying the interplay between existential suffering and meaning-making. He is interested in the psychology of ingroup favouritism and aggression towards others. His passion is to understand better how awareness of our own mortality and personal regrets are influencing the way we interact with others who are different from us.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Christian joined the expedition to Kilimanjaro in Africa.

As a defender of pride and dignities, Théo Challande Névoret is one of Marseille’s Vice-Mayors, in charge of Democracy and Discriminations. He also has been Project Leader of RAHM – The Global LGBT Leadership Contest & Community.

As an activist, advocating for LGBTQI+ visibility, he initiated among many other actions in 2017, the giant painting with rainbow colours on the second largest steps in the heart of his hometown (Marseille, France)and helped LGBT+ refugees from Chechnya, Ivory Coast, Syria, and other countries to find a safe home with basic needs.

M.A Graduate from Sciences-Po Aix and the University of Freiburg i.Br. in Germany, Théo Challande Névoret previously led the political strategy and analysis of the Socialist and Green Group in the County Council of the Bouches-du-Rhone on issues such as social safety net for unemployed people, deprived households and children, territorial development policies, political agenda-setting and PR.

Théo Challande Névoret strongly believes in humanity, dignity and justice. He aims to advocate for the shape of a better world for everyone.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Theo joined the expedition to Mont Blanc in Western Europe.

Martin is CEO of Relaxdays, a fast growing commerce company in Europe and a straight ally of Pink Summits. For more than a dozen years he has been working hard to make his company successful. Martin lives in Halle/Leipzig and loves his home city more than any other metropoly. Even sinnful Berlin does not stand in the competition with his lovely Halle. However, his heart of a passionate football fan beats not for FC Halle, but for BVB (Borussia Dortmund), probably the only real player against FC Bayern München.

Martin also loves nature and sports. Since childhood his parents were taking him for camping almost every weekend. Now he is camping on the next level: with our Pink Summits team! He joined us in 2019 on our trip to Kilimanjaro.

As a final word, here are some of Martin's preferences: summer over winter, beer over wine, tolerance over North Korea.

As a part of Pink Summits campaign, Martin joined the expedition to Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Are you adventurous? Do you love mountains and stunning landscapes? Are you not afraid of mental and physical challenges? Are you passionate about promoting LGBTIQ+ visibility?

Join us! You may do all 7/9 summits, a part of it, only one mountain or be involved in other expeditions and trips. Mountaineering experience would be great to have, but no the must.

Please, note: you should bear your own expenses. However our sponsors like Osprey may help you with equipment and other group expedition costs.

Please, write to dastan /at/ pinksummits.com if you are inspired to join us on our adventures!