Born in the “Winedistrict” northeast from Vienna, a region famous for its winegrowing rather than its high mountains, I grew up in a region where the highest mountain is only 400 m high. After finishing University with a PhD in economics, I was working for almost three decades in the banking business.
I discovered my love for the mountains together with our son Lukas, then aged only five, when we started hiking the Eastern Alps. As he grew older, we were looking for more challenging adventures and started climbing higher and more difficult mountains, eventually summiting a lot of spectacular mountains in the Alps, like Montblanc, Matterhorn, Jungfrau, Großglockner etc.
To combine the love for climbing, travelling and the curiosity for foreign cultures, together with our son Lukas, I have done various expeditions over the last decade and climbed Mountains in Europe, South Americas and Asia, including the highest mountain of the World – Mount Everest – which I successfully summited in May 2013.
While my job made it often difficult to find enough time to go to the mountains, the reward as well as the lessons I learned from climbing or hiking were valuable motivational drivers for my business career and provided me with a lot of insights for my job as a manager.
Becoming more and more addicted to the mountains I decided to turn my passion into my job and become a professional hiking and trekking guide after succesfully finishing the program with the Styrian Mountain Guide Association.
I love my new job and the mountains and I like to share these feelings with other people. While a trip can sometimes be physically challenging, my guests should feel save and happy. You should take home from every trip memorable experiences and feelings, which give you new strenght when you return to your daily routine.
Being out in the mountains frees your spirit from the daily routine and let you feel your body, brings you down to earth and puts problems into the right perspective.
Since 2017, also my son Lukas is also a certified hiking guide and will accompany you on your next hike.
I am looking forward to have you on one of my trips.
Dr. Josef Hochmeister
Certified hiking and snowshoeing guide