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Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Summit Slayer. First woman up all 14 8km+ peaks w/o 02. Austrian Alpinist.
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Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner’s interest in mountain climbing developed at a very young age. It was Reverend Dr. Erich Tischler, a youth group leader in her hometown of Spital am Pyhrn, Upper Austria, who introduced her to the fascinating world of mountains. After the dominical church service, he would take Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner along on numerous tours to the mountains surrounding her hometown.
For her first career, Gerlinde worked as a nurse, giving her unique insight into the human body and a better understanding of how to keep it at peak performance. She skied and climbed mountains in her spare time, occasionally leading tours. She always dreamed of climbing one of the world’s tallest mountains, known as the 8,000-meter peaks. She achieved that dream at the age of 23, when she reached the summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan (8,027m). That lit a fire inside of her.
During the following years, she poured all of her extra money from her nursing career into trekking and climbing expeditions to the Himalaya. She would climb four more peaks on her vacations from work. After summitting the 5th 8,000-meter peak, Nanga Parbat (8,126m), in Pakistan, she decided to go for her dream to become a professional mountain climber.
Today, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner has climbed all fourteen main peaks in the eight thousand series as well as two fore summits higher than eight thousand meters. By reaching the summit of K2 (8,611m), the second highest—and considered by many to be the most dangerous—peak in the world, she became the first woman to scale all 8,000m peaks without the use of supplementary oxygen or the help of high-altitude porters.
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Climbing the 14 Highest Peaks in the World
At 23, Austrian mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner achieved her greatest dream: climbing an 8,000-meter peak. Fast forward to today, Gerlinde has climbed all 14 of the seminal 8,000+ meter peaks, including K2 in the remote Karakoram Range—the first woman climber to do so without supplemental oxygen. Hear about her thrilling experiences on these giants, including fascinating insights about her life as a climber. Experience the challenges of this dangerous sport, and witness the raw beauty of the world’s most remote mountains. Gerlinde also shares how willpower, discipline, trust, patience, intuition, and passion each played a role in her quest.
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Photos: courtesy Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
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