Andreas Breitfuss

Early life

Andreas grew up in Perisher Valley, New South Wales and begun skiing as a toddler. He was skiing competitively by age 7 and joined Australia's freestyle ski team at 18. After four years with the Australian national ski team a knee injury forced Breitfuss to retire from competitive skiing at the age of 23.

In 1990 Breitfuss, along with his brother Kristian, Justin Melvey, and Mark Neave, cheated in a "Dash for Cash" ski race at Perisher and took the $5000 cash prize. The money was eventually returned and the group paid a $1000 fine.

Career

Andreas graduated from the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School in Australia and began his career as the Food and Beverage Manager of the Thredbo Alpine Hotel. In 1999 he received a New South Wales tourism award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism by a Young Achiever.

From 2009 to 2012 Andreas was the General Manager of Tower Estate and held multiple roles including Maître de Maison of Tower Lodge and creator of the restaurant Nine. During his tenure Tower Lodge joined the prestigious Relais & Chateaux association and was named the Best Global Luxury Lodge at the 2010 World Luxury Hotel Awards. Nine was named Best Restaurant in a Winery at the 2011 Savour National Restaurant & Catering Awards and awarded Restaurant of the Year (Hunter Valley) in the Catering Hostplus Regional NSW Awards for Excellence.

A third generation hotelier, his father Franz Breitfuss opened Chalaet Sonnenhof at Perisher and his great-grandmother owned four hotels in Sydney.

He is the current General Manager of VENUESL!VE, the management company for Sydney's ANZ Stadium and Perth Stadium in Perth.

Andreas wrote the textbook Marketing Maneuvers: Marketing Moves for Your Business (Chegg).

Mountaineering

Andreas reached the summit of Mount Everest by the South Col route on May 19, 2012. It was a congested day on the mountain with hundreds of people trying to descend and ascend at the same time. He was one of 234 climbers that reached the peak of everest in a single day, a Guinness World Record. Breitfuss carried a GPS the entire distance to the top, which enabled his progress to be tracked online.

The 2012 season was the worst since 1996 with eleven deaths, four of which perished on the same day Andreas summited.

A novice climber, he trained for Everest for a year, which included the ascent of Pumori in the Himalayas and the use of a rock climbing wall built on the grounds of Tower Estate. In 2017 Andreas plans to summit Everest via the Northern route.