Iron will and physical endurance meet pipette, data analysis and field research. The history and development of alpine and high-altitude medicine is rich in anecdotes, some of which doctors Oswald Oelz and Peter Bärtsch can recount first-hand. Mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner tells of her experiences battling with lack of oxygen at high altitudes. And a recent study takes 51 participants to the highest mountain shelter in Europe.