History made

The Austrian women on the eight-thousander

The Austrian Edith Bolda on the summit ridge of Shisha Pangma (8027 meters)(Bild: zVg)

In March 1994, Austrian women set off to climb the 8027-metre-high Shisha Pangma in distant Tibet, making history in Austrian women's mountaineering. 

Today, 30 years later, the mountaineers agree: it was simply a great mountain adventure and experiment, although of all the Austrians, only Edith Bolda from Linz reached the eight-thousander summit alongside three Tibetan women and Ewa Pankiewicz from Poland. Bolda: "An expedition always means teamwork, you can't get anywhere on your own. I was just in the right place at the right time. If the weather had been better, most women would probably have made it up."

Read on to find out what other obstacles they had to overcome apart from the weather - including other expeditions playing tricks on them - and what the female mountaineers are doing today.