Stefan Nestler

In the 1980s, Stefan Nestler pursued what is now known as a dual course of study. He trained as an editor at the German School of Journalism in Munich while also studying journalism at the Ludwig Maximilian University. After graduation, his path led him back to his hometown of Cologne to Deutsche Welle. He worked as a radio journalist at the station's newsroom for eight years before switching to sports in 1997.

In addition to the day-to-day duties of the German sports desk — a lot of football and other popular sports — Stefan also devoted himself to his main hobby: mountain climbing. He reported from the Himalayas and the Karakoram not only for DW radio but also increasingly for their website. He made his way to Mount Everest and K2, the second highest mountain in the world, accompaning expeditions and developing from a reporter covering adventures to a reporting adventurer. In 2009, Stefan reached the North Pole on skis and in 2014 was part of a mountaineering team that climbed a 7,000-meter peak in western China for the first time.

Although he is now no longer quite "extreme," Stefan still has close ties to the extreme mountain climbing world. Beyond that, he has remained curious and likes to dig into complicated topics.