Celebrating 10 Years of Gutsy Girls: Adventure Women Who Inspire Us
For a decade, the Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Tour has celebrated women who push boundaries, redefine limits, and inspire us to live boldly. As we mark our 10th anniversary, we’re spotlighting ten extraordinary adventure women whose stories remind us what becomes possible when we refuse to accept limitations.
Meet Allie Pepper—Australia’s most accomplished female high-altitude mountaineer. At 50, she’s in the midst of one of the most audacious climbing projects ever attempted: summiting all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks without supplemental oxygen, reaching their true summits, in just four years.
To understand what this means, consider this: above 8,000 metres is the “death zone,” where the human body cannot survive for extended periods. The air is so thin that brain cells die, organs fail, and every step feels like running a marathon. Most climbers use bottled oxygen to survive. Allie climbs without it.
Her achievements so far are staggering:
- Cho Oyu (8,188m) – May 2007 – without oxygen
- Everest 8848m – May 2011 – with oxygen
- Manaslu (8,163m) – May 2012 – with oxygen
- Annapurna I (8,091m) – April 2022 – with oxygen
- Broad Peak (8,051m) – July 2023 – without oxygen
- Manaslu (8,163m) – September 2023 – without oxygen
- Annapurna I (8,091m) – April 2024 – without oxygen
- Makalu (8,485m) – May 2024 – without oxygen
- K2 8,611m – July 2024 – with oxygen
- Cho Oyu (8,188m) – October 2024 – without oxygen
- Kanchenjunga (8,586m) – May 2025 – with oxygen
- Nanga Parbat (8,126m) – July 2025 – with oxygen
Allie has completed five summits out of fourteen in this project, with nine more to go since beginning this epic feat in July 2023.
But Allie’s story isn’t just about summits and statistics. It’s about a woman who walked into a TAFE college at 23 with low self-esteem and no direction, discovered her passion for climbing, and transformed herself into one of the world’s elite high-altitude mountaineers. It’s about facing a midlife crisis—grief, menopause, divorce—and emerging stronger, more focused, and more connected to her purpose. It’s about the mental strength required to endure 29-hour summit pushes in conditions that break most people, and the spiritual practice that keeps her grounded when everything screams at her to quit.
Most remarkably, it’s about proving that the second half of life can be the most powerful and limitless.
We sat down with Allie to talk about what fuels her extraordinary journey—the fears she’s confronted, the transformations she’s undergone, the wisdom she’s gained from mountains and from life itself. Her words offer profound insights not just for climbers, but for anyone pursuing big, wild dreams.
A Conversation with Allie Pepper
What first sparked your love for adventure, and how did that moment change the trajectory of your life?
I returned from a spiritual quest through India and Nepal to find myself but still didn’t know who I was. I wanted to have some direction in my life as I failed my HSC, never went to university and only ever had casual jobs. In 1999 I walked into my local TAFE college in the Blue Mountains and a brochure stood out to me. It said Outdoor Recreation but, in my mind, I read it as Outdoor Re-creation. I was a hippy and wanted to recreate myself and loved the outdoors. That course taught me to climb, hike and canyon. I didn’t even know I grew up in Australia’s largest climbing area. I was good at all the adventure activities, topped the class and found something I loved. Most importantly, I grew my self-esteem.
When you look back at your journey, what has been the most defining or transformative experience in your career so far?
The most transforming experience of my life was my journey through my mid-life crisis. In 2020 my father unexpectedly passed away, I am an only child, and this hit me hard. The next year menopause hit me with an avalanche of severe symptoms which led me to believe I would never climb a mountain ever again. Once I got through that by finding the right treatment in hormone therapy, my marriage fell apart, and I moved out of my home. This trifecta of life changing experiences left me questioning “who am I”?
That is when I realised, I was going to the mountain to escape something. It was the only place I truly felt at home. When I returned from the mountain, I felt empty. Then I questioned what was I escaping and why did I feel at home there? Through meditation practices and working with a Life Coach I began to understand I was escaping my past, and I went to the mountain to be more connected to my spirit, my true home. I faced the trauma from my past and fostered a close connection to my spirit through daily practices. Now I simply climb because it’s my soul path and it’s my passion. I don’t have to go to the mountain to feel whole and fulfilled. I foster that feeling inside myself.
Adventure is full of risk and uncertainty—what fears have you had to confront, and how do you move through them?
My main fear has been “I am not enough”. This came from starting my mountaineering career surrounded by men and feeling I had to prove myself. Prove my strength and my worth. Funnily enough I didn’t face this fear on the mountain, I faced it through meditation and deep questioning. I have been scared on the mountain of course, especially on Annapurna and Nanga Parbat. In those moments I have trusted that spirit would guide and protect me. So far, that has been working out for me.
The adventure world is still heavily male-dominated. What has been your biggest challenge navigating that, and what has helped you stay grounded and confident?
I no longer feel like I have to prove anything to anyone, most importantly myself. I don’t climb with that energy anymore, so I don’t attract the same situations or realities where I am not looked up to. These days both men and women ask for my advice on the mountain, and I am respected. I see people on different stages of that journey when I am climbing. Some cannot overcome their egos and get summit fever. Not all of them survive. Most often they are men, but I have seen women also make ego-based decisions that have not ended well for them.
What does strength look like to you—physically, mentally, or emotionally?
Physical strength to me, in my particular sport, which is climbing above 8000m without oxygen, is very specific. I am not strong in comparison to most athletes at sea level. I am not winning any races or lifting crazy heavy weights. But what I do have is incredible endurance at high altitude. My body is strong enough to endure a 29-hour summit push above 7,500m without supplemental oxygen. To me that is strength, but the mind will always take you way further than the body thinks it can go. The suffering and discomfort to achieve an 8000m peak without oxygen is next level. I am cold, can hardly breath, my legs hurt, my lungs hurt, my heart is beating out of my chest. I only want to stop and go to sleep. I wish to be anywhere else but the present moment. Mental strength is more important than physical strength, always. I would describe the mental strength that I foster is akin to a Zen warrior. I aim to be at peace with the discomfort and pain. I aim to make decisions with the clarity of a monk while I am in the worst storm of my life. That is mental strength to me. Emotional mastery has been a journey. It’s not about having no emotions at all. Quite the opposite. It’s about processing emotions as they come up but fast. I have become better at this. I invite them in, I feel them, and I ask them what have they got to teach me? Why are they here? There is always a deeper lesson. This is true self-awareness and this is the stage of life I am in at the moment and I love it.
Who are the women (or people) who have inspired you the most, and how have they shaped the way you show up in the mountaineering world?
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner was my biggest inspiration once I began climbing the 8000ers. But it was Andrew Lock that I was able to get real practical advice from, and I have always been grateful for his support. My climbing partner Mariano Galvan was a huge inspiration to me as he had climbed many 8000ers solo and without oxygen. He died in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat in 2017. I have his words tattooed on my arm. “Mas importante que la cima es el camino, y mas importante que el camino son los principios que mueven tues pies”. It means more important than the summit is the journey and more important than the journey are the principles which move your feet. It is a reminder for me of what is important when I climb both physical and mental mountains.
During my mountaineering career I have learned the most from the Sherpa. Climbing with them, observing them, living with them and being immersed in their culture. My partner Mikel is a Sherpa. We have climbed seven 8000ers together and I am constantly learning from him. He is so incredibly strong and too humble like most Nepali high-altitude workers.
What keeps you going on the hard days—when the weather, the world, or your own doubts feel stacked against you?
My connection to my spirit and my trust in the divine. I trust that everything is happening for my highest and best good. If it’s difficult to achieve something it’s either because it’s not meant for me or I have lessons to learn first. Mountains have taught me patience, resilience and the importance of connecting to spirit, to my intuition. Not just making decisions based on the ego, the monkey mind or purely from our experience.
How has adventure changed the way you see yourself, your body, and your place in the world?
Adventure has shaped me into the woman I am today. Through adventure I have learned more about what I am capable of. I have expanded my awareness and my mind. It has challenged me in every way and has also confronted me. I have become a better person, more open minded, more heart centred. I have learned about other cultures, I have met so many people from so many different backgrounds. We all have something in common, an adventurous heart. Travel is an adventure. We don’t have to go that far to have an adventure. We simply must do something where the outcome is unknown. It’s possible to have an adventure every single day. How fun is that!
If you could tell young girls or emerging adventurers one thing about pursuing big, wild dreams, what would it be?
No dream is too big if you take it one step at a time. Along the way you will become the person you need to be to achieve it.
Follow Allie’s journey at alliepepper.com and on Instagram @alliepepperadventures
