Mountains in My Heart: A Passion for Climbing

by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner

Effusive, charismatic, tough, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is one of the world’s most successful high-altitude mountaineers and the first woman to climb all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen——and she also eschews high-altitude porters. Mountains in My Heart covers her early years learning to climb in Austria, her personal life, her training as an oncology nurse, and her ever-present passion for mountains, especially the Himalaya. Her love of being in the mountains shines through in her For Gerlinde the important thing was not the race to be the first woman to climb the 8,000-meter peaks, but rather to experience the mountains and climb them in her self-sufficient style. Self-sufficiency did not, however, mean climbing without her husband, Ralf Dujmovits; in 2009, Lhotse became her twelfth and his fourteenth 8,000-meter peak! Kaltenbrunner shares the challenges, dangers, and euphoria of her high-altitude climbs, detailing medical emergencies and her own feelings about being high in the mountains. Her writing is honest, captivating, and unrestrained.

Genres: Mountaineering, Nonfiction, Memoir, Climbing, Outdoors

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Ines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assolutamente un MUST per tutti gli amanti dell' alpinismo, ciò che Gerlinde racconta è allo stesso momento affascinante,puro e spaventoso. Nonostante il mondo dell'Alpinismo estremo sia diventato una lotta totale di protagonismo e competitività, nelle sue parole si riesce ancora a vedere una semplicità di cuore e di rispetto per l'altro inimmaginabile in quel mondo.
Bello,bello,bello!!!

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mountains in My Heart: a Passion for Climbing by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is a first reads win and I am given my honest opinion. Gerlinde's early enthusiasm for mountaineering came on summer camps with Father Tischler. She was part of the summer team. During one climb, she and her girl friend started giggling because their hair was standing up. When Father Tischler saw it he rushed them down the mountain though they were only 150 meters from the top. a bad electrical storm hit them on the way down. If they were still near the summit they would have been the tallest thing on the mountain. A human lightning rod for for the lightning. Thus begun a love of the mountains. She is the first woman to climb all 14 peaks over 8000 meters high surrounding Mt. Everest.

[Mert Topcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this book as part of my preparation for the 100 mile ultra marathon around Mont Blanc.
And I'm not a mountaineer at all.

With those disclaimers out of the way, her experience and stories sounded incredible however the storytelling fell really flat.

My hunch is that the English translation contributed to this in some way.

All that's said, what she accomplished and her experience along the way is truly extraordinary.

And I got a little what I was looking for: How to connect with mountains.

[kaiielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stumbled across this book on a shelf in the library and am really glad I picked it up. I had no idea who Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner was and decided to jump right into reading this book without doing a Google search.

As an avid hiker, reading other people's stories about climbing mountains is so interesting to me. This was no exception. Her stories of climbing the world's tallest mountains (14 of them, over 8000m tall) were filled with joy, excitement, challenge, tragedy and more. She talks about everything: the moment she realized she wanted to mountaineer for a living, the costs, the preparation, the acclimatization, the challenges, the weather, the loss of fellow climbing friends that she's experienced, her avalanche experience, and my favorite part: the multiple attempts at K2, and then when she finally reached the summit of it.

One thing to note is that this book was translated. Gerlinde is from Austria and I am fairly certain the original is in German. There is a reason why "lost in translation" is a common saying.

[Darlene Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to goodreads for an early copy of mountains in my heart for reading. This book captures the love many women and men feel for the joy and freedom high on a mountain. It shares the dangers and strategies one needs to be successful as a climber.

[Sarangoo Sainkhuu · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Нар жаргах, мандах болоод үүр гийх, одод түгсэн шөнийн цаг мөчийн уулсын авир, дүр төрх, үзэсгэлэнд татагдан, биё махбодийн бэлтгэл сургуулилтыг маш сайн хангаж, анхаарал болгоомжтойгоор бүрэн төвлөрч, байгалийн хатуу ширүүнийг сөрөн, тэсвэр тэвчээрийн дээдийг үл цуцах шаргуу хүсэл эрмэлзэл, зүтгэлээрээ уулсын оргилд хүрчээ. Мөн цаг агаар, нөхцөл байдлаас шалтгаалан түр азнах, цаашлаад авиралтаа зогсоох ёстойг анхааруулсан мэт.
#Түүнчлэн уулын авиралтын багаж хэрэгсэл, тэдгээрийн ажиллагаа, техник, зориулалтын чанартай хувцас хичнээн чухал болох нь авиралтын оролдлого бүрээс ойлгогдсон.
#Бид байгаль эхийн үзэсгэлэнг биширч, асар их энерги, эрч хүчээр цэнэглэгдэн, эх дэлхийн эд эс гэдэгээ бүрэн мэдэрдэг болов уу?
*Би зөвхөн өөрийнхөө төлөө авирч, энэ бүх хүнд хэцүү, сайхан мэдрэмжийг өөрийн биеэр мэдрэхийг хүссэн.

[Phylwil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

First, the writing style reminds me of letters written to friends and family--no conversations or storytelling really. That may be the result of the translator. After a slow start, I began to enjoy her exploits on the world's highest peaks. What I really enjoyed: the pictures. Most are of the author climbing one of the world's highest peaks, with a big, joyous grin on her face. This woman truly loves what she does!

[Cheryl Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner's accomplishments are inspiring, and reading about her mountaineering feats from her perspective is a joy. As the subtitle suggests, she truly has a passion for her sport that shines through the pages. I was a bit disappointed that the tone seemed to fall flat at times, and there were awkward sentences and phrases, which I assume are due to the translation to English. But, for the most part, the astounding context and gripping stories make the read more than worthwhile.

[MemoirMountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal climber - This will become an important work

[David Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mountains In My Heart A Passion For Climbing, by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, is my one hundred and fifth book that I have received and read from Goodreads. This is a great book to read. It tells the story how Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner was the first woman to climb and reach the top of all fourteen 8,000 meter peaks mountains without using oxygen masks. Her story tells about alot of other mountains smaller she climbed.
I am not a mountain climber, so alot of this really amazed me. Some of the things she talked about is the distances she had to travel to be able to get to the mountains. Gerlinde told about how she had to work to get the amount of time off to be able to climb. She talked about the cost factor, how she saved to pay for booking flights, the permits needed, getting Visas for the countries you were going, making sure you had hearders. Task, and or camels to carry all the equipment and food needed, and having a cook. You could easily pay for 30 headers.
When you got to the mountains I thought you just started climbing. No you had to set up a base camp and get acclimatized for a couple of days. The trek to the mountains could take a week. During this time you could be fighting the weather. Weather permitting you would climb a 5,000 meter peak, pitch a tent stay a couple days to get acclimated, if lucky and weather conditions permitting you climb to 7,000 meters pitch a tent, get acclimated a couple days. Get up early morning weather permitting climb to the top, spend a short time and start climbing back down taking a couple days. But this seldom happens like this. The weather conditions play a big part. Up that high it can snow for days, you can run into ice storms, fog so thick you can't see. It's amazing the amount of times she had to turn around because of weather and not be able to make it to the top and come back down, and half to go back home.
Like all dangerous sports, the worst things can happen, the loss of a team member, a close friend, the loss of a mate, or other persons you only new by name, or persons in your sport. This sport has many ways you can loose your life from.
I found reading her book, Gerlinde made you feel a part of her sport, climbing the mountains with her. You got to know a little bit about her life. By reading her book I found that I would like to meet her and her husband. They are both really great ambassadors to their sport. Great book for all ages to read.

[Mihai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like her good friend's Edurne Pasaban's memoir Tilting at Mountains, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner presents the reader with a passionate and completely honest account of her adventures in climbing the 8000ers (which, as any mountaineering enthusiast knows, represent the fourteen highest peaks on the planet). As a mountaineer myself, I could totally relate to the emotions described by Kaltenbrunner in Mountains in My Heart, from the exhilaration of reaching the summit, to the indescribable savage beauty of the Great Ranges, to crushing tragedies and moments of despair. Above all, it is the human spirit that triumphs - and, for those of us affected, the spirit draws us ever higher through the addiction to climbing.

I was fortunate to meet Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner in person in 2013, when she spoke about her experiences to a large audience, signed autographs and was happy to meet and chat with every person seeking her presence. After recovering feeling following her iron handshake, I was blown away to see how joy at being in the mountains and being able to climb showed in her every word. Kaltenbrunner is a person who lives life to the fullest, not irresponsibly, but with determination and maniacal dedication. More importantly, she recognizes that the greatest lessons lie in failure, not necessarily in success; the ability to retreat when the instinct for preservation kicks in or when a number of subtle signs warn of critical danger is something that drove Kaltenbrunner's triumph and ensured her survival. As mountaineers, the line between life and death is thin, forcing every person to ask themselves at some point: is this really worth it?

All these observations and musings are evident in Mountains in My Heart, which is written from the heart indeed, and even though it's not perfect (flawed translation, explanations repeated in chapters, which indicate they were probably written in different contexts and then assembled into one narrative), it is an awesome inspirational story for women and men alike.

[Tima · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gerlinde grew up in the beautiful mountains of Austria. So her love of climbing began at an early age. Despite loss and hardships along the way, she has become known for her adventurous climbing. She tells her story in this book that has just been translated into English for the first time.

I enjoy reading autobiographies and looked forward to learning this woman's story. The book was nice and the story had several interesting elements. But it felt stilted and dry as well. Based on the story, I felt that the reason for the bland presentation was the translation. The phrase "lost in translation" came across my mind multiple times while reading this. I wanted to love the story, but it was just okay. I feel confident that with a smoother translation the author's zest for climbing and zeal for her mountains would truly shine through. Those that are more familiar with the mountains or love climbing will enjoy this book.

I received this book free of charge from Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.

[Chung-yee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first woman to climb the world's fourteen 8000-metre peaks without supplemental oxygen or high-altitude porters. I took away from her story is her explanation for "why", as it comes close in words as to why I keep on pursuing my own adventures: "I seek these highlights: the overwhelming impression of beauty, the intense sensation of being alive and being my pure self. Up here, I am free; I can leave all responsibilities behind. I don't have to please anyone else. Far away from everything down there, I can be at one with myself. Whenever I succumb to the world of the high mountains, I feel content, even-keeled, and filled with joy. When I climb, I am determined; I feel independent and competent. I make my own decisions."

[Elizabeth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an incredible story. The author takes us with her as she climbs mountain after mountain for the sheer love of it. I would have appreciated a little more introduction, and more background on mountaineering terminology, but I was able to figure enough out to enjoy the book. I also wish there was a little more on the end about what the author is doing now. Will she ever climb those mountains again? What is next in her life?

I received a copy for free through the Goodreads First Reads Program. Thank you.