In 2011, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner solidified her mountaineering legacy by becoming the first woman to bag all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. She followed that up in 2012 by completing the hardest line of the season from Everest Base Camp: the rarely attempted Scott Route up 25,790-foot Nuptse, first ascended in 1979 by a team of British climbers.

In May 2012, the 41-year-old Austrian joined German David Gttler on the brutally exposed, avalanche-prone line, tackling it in four days. It was just the third successful attempt up the route, which ascends a 5,791-foot wall, and they did it without the aid of oxygen or high-altitude porters. They were also just the 19th and 20th people to reach Nuptses main summit.

Kaltenbrunner grew up in the small resort community of Spital am Pyhrn, nestled in the Alps of central Austria. As a child, she became an accomplished skier, but she gradually became more interested in trekking in the mountains near her home. Her first climbing expedition was at the age of 13, when she ascended Sturzhahn (6,654 feet).

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