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We all know how intensely proud vegans can be about being vegan, going vegan, living vegan, and Maria Strydom, who practiced the diet along with her husband, took it to an extreme.

She wanted to prove vegans could do anything, so she set upon one of the most difficult challenges, climbing Mount Everest. It was part of her goal to scale the Seven Summits, the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents.

She died on Everest this weekend, of a pulmonary embolism before reaching the peak.

“It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak,” Strydom said to a blog at the university she lectured at before embarking on her journey. “By climbing the seven summits we want to prove that vegans can do anything and more.”

Her husband was with her on the journey, and while he suffered from the same malady, he survived and was evacuated off the mountain.

Two other climbers have also passed away this climbing season.

[Via Time]