Before turning his drive and focus to the high standard mountaineering that arguably would shape in the international climbing scene in recent years, David Lama had been an outstanding competition climber. The story behind his early years in the activity is well-known. Born in 1990, the son of a Nepali mountain guide and an Austrian nurse, Lama was five when he attended a climbing session organized by Peter Habeler. His unusual talent was quickly recognized, and Lama was soon being coached as part of a competition team. At the age of 10 he became the youngest person to climb 8a. At the age of 14 he climbed his first 8c and won the European Youth Cup. He became the the first to win both a lead and bouldering World Cup final in his first season, and was also the youngest person to compete in the IFSC World Cup. Lama won the overall World Championships in 2008. One of his first alpine new routes was climbed in August 2008 on the Sagwand (Zillertal Alps) near his home in Innsbruck. Over the years Lama would return to this wall to climb a number of lines in both summer and winter. In 2009 he began a series of high standard routes in the bigger mountains, when as part of a four-person team he made the first free ascent of the Timofeev Route (7b) on the 900m northwest face of Asan in the Kyrgyzstan Pamir Alai. Next year, in the Dolomites, he repeated Bellavista (8c) on the Cima Ovest, and the Voie Petit (8b) on the Grand Capucin in the Mont Blanc Range In 2011 he joined three other climbers to make the first ascent of the west face and south ridge of Cerro Kishtwar (6,155m). This was only the second overall ascent of the peak, and brought to attention an area untouched by the mountaineering community for nearly two decades. The following year, with Peter Ortner, he made the first free ascent of the southeast ridge of Cerro Torre, after a recent removal of many of Maestri's bolts. For this National Geographic awarded him "Adventurer of the Year". Both Austrians then moved to high altitude later that year with an ascent of Chogolisi (7,665m). In 2013, with Dani Arnold, he completed a technically demanding direct route up the east face of the Mooses Tooth named Bird of Prey (1,500m, 6a A2 M7+ 90°). In 2015 and 2016 Lama made unsuccessful attempts with Conrad Anker to climb the virgin Lunag Ri, finally reaching the summit, solo, in 2018. His sponsors remember him as the most passionate climber they have ever encountered. Anker described him as humble, motivated, with the most natural ability to move over any kind of vertical terrain.