Peak Performers – The Science Behind High-Altitude Medicine

A scientific adventure documentary about the history and development of alpine and high-altitude medicine around the Capanna Regina Margherita, Europe's highest building.

Successful high-altitude mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner provides a personal insight into her experiences with oxygen depletion at high altitudes, while medical professors Oswald Oelz and Peter Bärtsch share many anecdotes about their research findings over the past 40 years in dealing with altitude sickness. Together with 51 volunteers, the research team of the Salzburg Mountain Medicine Research Group led by Professor Marc Berger is conducting a current study at the Margherita Hut in Italy's Monte Rosa massif. The result is an exciting, informative and scientific film that reports on the dangers, development mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of altitude sickness.