Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Legendary mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is the first woman to summit all 14 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen or porters.
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More about Gerlinde
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner’s interest in mountain climbing developed at a very young age. Her church youth group leader in her hometown in Upper Austria, Reverend Dr. Erich Tischler, after Sunday church would take her and her friends along on numerous tours to the surrounding mountains.
Gerlinde started her career as a nurse, giving her unique insight into the human body and a better understanding of how to keep it at peak performance. Yet, she always skied and climbed in her spare time, occasionally leading tours and dreaming of climbing at least 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 fore summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan (8,027m). That lit a fire inside of her.
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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 summiting 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. 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 8,000 m peaks without the use of supplementary oxygen or the help of high-altitude porters.
Speaking Topics
Leadership
Resilience
Team Dynamics
Sports
Adventure
Watch Gerlinde in action
Presentations
Defying Limits: Climbing the 14 Highest Peaks
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner has conquered all 14 of the world’s 8,000+ meter peaks, from Annapurna to Everest. After mastering the feared K2 in the Karakoram Range—without supplemental oxygen or porters—she became the first woman to achieve this feat. On stage, Gerlinde shares breathtaking stories, triumphs, and the relentless determination behind a trailblazing mountaineering career.
"Struggling with reality only wastes energy. I accept what is and look ahead.“
– Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner