Alexander Huber

Alexander Huber (born 30 December 1968) is a German rock climber who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. He came to prominence in the early 1990s as the world's strongest sport climber after the passing of Wolfgang Güllich. He is the second-ever person to redpoint a 9a (5.14d) graded route by ascending Om in 1992, and has come to be known as the first-ever person to redpoint a 9a+ (5.15a) route from his 1996 ascent of Open Air. In the decade following the mid-1990s, Huber, often partnered with his brother Thomas, also came to be regarded as the strongest big wall free climber of his generation, with groundbreaking first ascents in Yosemite (El Nino in 1998, and Zodiac in 2003), the Karakoram (Latok II in 1997, and Eternal Flame in 2009). Huber's 1995 ascent of the Salathé Wall in Yosemite was the first-ever complete redpoint of an 8a (5.13b) graded big wall in history. His 2001 ascent of Bellavista in the Dolomites was the first-ever redpoint of an 8c (5.14b) graded big wall in history. Huber is also known as one of the greatest free-solo climbers for both big-wall and sport-climbing routes. In 2002, he free soloed the first-ever grade 7a+ (5.12a) big wall in history, the 580-metre Brandler-Hasse Direttissima in the Dolomites. In 2003, he free soloed the second-ever grade 8b (5.13d) sport-climbing route with Der Opportunist in Austria, and in 2004, he became the first-ever person to free solo an 8b+ (5.14a) graded sport route with Kommunist, also in Austria.