Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner’s greatest dream, climbing an 8,000-meter peak, came true at the age of 23 when she climbed the fore-summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan. During the following years, she put all her money, earned as a nurse, into trekking and climbing expeditions in the Himalaya. After climbing Nanga Parbat, her fifth 8,000-meter peak in 2003, she decided to become a professional mountain climber. Today, Kaltenbrunner has climbed all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks and is the first woman to climb them without supplementary oxygen. Her passion for the people and their cultures and religions is as strong as her love of the high mountains of the Himalaya. Between expeditions, Kaltenbrunner climbs and skis in the Alps.