LOWA TRAIL Racers Team Jojo Klein

Outdoors is freedom

Jojo Klein’s defi­nition of the outdoors is as simple as it is powerful: outdoors is freedom! The outdoors and freedom have always both played an important role in Jojo’s life. After studying media, sports and event mana­gement, the endurance athlete from Oberstdorf in Germany’s Allgäu region knew exactly where he wanted to go: outdoors, and nowhere else. If possible, way high up the mountains.

Which is why he is deeply rooted in the Ober­allgäu district, where he will probably remain for the rest of his life. He has been working there for seven years as a qualified mountain and trail-running guide, and is also a kitchen expert at the Berg­gasthof Seealpe mountain restaurant, where he serves delicious Allgäu deli­cacies to other outdoor enthu­siasts and ensures that guests do not die of thirst.

When it comes to his outdoor acti­vities, it is parti­cularly important to Jojo that he can define himself freely – and redefine himself again if necessary. He doesn’t want to be pige­onholed as a trail runner only. “Sometimes I’m a trail runner, sometimes a skyrunner, sometimes a hiker and sometimes just a person going for a walk. Pursuing things with healthy discipline and constant mind­fulness, that’s what true freedom means to me, ” is how Jojo sums up his personal life philosophy.

No wonder that this under­standing of discipline and freedom has already brought the down-to-earth Allgäuer a great deal of sporting success and made him a well-known perso­nality in the trail running scene. Since his first ATR compe­tition, the Nebel­horn­berglauf in 2015, Jojo has already secured a place on the podium in numerous national and inter­na­tional compe­titions over a wide diversity of trails and distances. He is above all proud of his victories at the Allgäu Panorama Ultratrail and the Walser Ultratrail, as these are his home races. At inter­na­tional level, the numerous top placings he has achieved in Skyrunning World Series races are his greatest pride.

Apart from his profes­sional trail-running projects, Jojo looks back with particular gratitude and happiness on two private outdoor expe­riences. Firstly, the one-day solo ascents of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. And secondly, his personal Zugspitze adventure, where he climbed Germany’s highest mountain three times in one day – taking the Jubiläumsgrat, the Höllental via ferrata and finally the Gatterl climbing routes.