This is not just about swimming.
This is about Resilience & High Performance to raise awareness for people living with an illness.
The Alpine Seven is built around one belief: No one should hide because of a diagnosis.
Seven complete crossings of the greatest alpine lakes in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Over 330km of open water, swam non-stop, without a wetsuit.
Inspired by the Ocean Seven — the most demanding open-water challenge in the world — The Alpine Seven is its freshwater counterpart. No ocean currents. But cold water, altitude, unpredictable wind, and distances that have been completed by only a handful of people on earth.
Three lakes done. Four to go.
Lake Attersee — brutal elbow pain two and a half hours in. Keep going.
Lake Constance — 65km. First Austrian ever. 6th person on earth.
Wörthersee — after a full week of gastroenteritis. Started anyway. Not for records. Not for glory. To prove — in real conditions — that the system works.
The Alpine Seven is built around one belief: No one should hide because of a diagnosis.
But the hiding rarely stops when the treatment does.
The hardest part of a serious health crisis is rarely the treatment. It is what comes after. The moment when you are medically cleared, professionally back, and still do not recognise the person in the room. The moment nobody around you understands — because to them, the crisis is over.
Every crossing is a demonstration — that 5% capacity, applied with the right system, consistently produces what looks impossible from the outside. That the rebuild is possible. That the story does not end at the diagnosis.
The mission: raise visibility for people living with illness — and for what comes after it — through action that speaks louder than words.
“Resilience is not a feeling. It’s a decision made at the moment you most want to stop.”
A variety of beautiful 7 lakes located in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Distances range from 17 km to 73 km, allowing swimmers to progress through varying levels of difficulty and endurance. The lakes offer unique challenges, from cold water and altitude to unexpected wind patterns and wave conditions.
Distance 66KM
This project exists because of a specific belief: the hardest part of illness isn’t always the physical pain. It’s passing the medical check, going back to work, and realising the person who used to inhabit your life has not returned with the body.
The Alpine Seven is a public demonstration that the rebuild is possible — and that it requires a system, not just willpower. Every stroke in open water is proof. Every crossing that looked impossible from the outside is evidence that the gap between cleared and rebuilt can be closed.
Distance 20 KM
Completed Elbow pain at 2.5hrs. Kept going.
Distance 65 KM
Completed First Austrian ever. 6th person on earth.
Distance 17 KM
Completed Full week of gastroenteritis beforehand. Started anyway.
Distance 66 KM
Only the 2nd person ever.
Distance 59 KM
Only the 2nd person ever.
“Your help goes to NF Kinder, so they can care for children and families affected by Neurofibromatosis.”
“We are a patient organization of those affected for those affected. Therefore, we know best what measures are necessary to improve the quality of life of people with NF in Austria.
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