Alexander Huber

Huber was born in Trostberg in Bavaria, the second of three children. His father Thomas, a climber who had ascended the north face of Les Droites, and his mother Maria, took the children mountaineering from a young age. By 1986, aged 18, Huber and his brother Thomas had climbed Utopia (VIII+, 7a+) on the Wartsteinwand, and in 1988, they ascended Vom Winde Verweht (X−, 8a+) on Scharnstein in the Berchtesgaden Alps. By 1992, Huber trained as a fully qualified UIAGM mountain guide. In 1997, Huber graduated with a Master's in Physics and received a post-graduate position as an assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Meteorology at LMU Munich. In 1998, Huber decided to become a full-time professional climber, one year after Thomas; the pair are known as the "Huberbuam" (Huberboys). ==Climbing career==

Sport climbing Huber came to prominence as a sport climber in the early 1990s, at a time when Wolfgang Gullich was considered the world's strongest sport climber. Huber attributes the initial conservative grading of Gullich's famous 1991 route, Action Directe, which persisted for many years until it was eventually shown to be a "hard 9a", for suppressing the grades of Huber's own routes such as Om, Weisse Rose, and La Rambla. Big wall climbing From the mid-1990s onwards, Huber (often partnered with Thomas), began to focus almost exclusively on big wall climbing in which he would become one of the most important big wall free climbers in history. In 1995, Huber became the first person to lead all 36-pitches of the Salathé Wall, and thus became the first-ever person to redpoint a big wall route at the grade of . Over the following decade, Huber made the first free ascent (or partial free ascent with minor aid), some of the most iconic big wall routes in Yosemite, including El Nino (5.13c A0, 1998), Golden Gate (5.13a, 2000), El Corazon (5.13b, 2001), and Zodiac (5.13d, 2003). Huber's most famous Yosemite route was his easiest, his 1998 ascent of Freerider (5.12d/5.13a), a route which is only second in popularity to The Nose. The Huber brothers set several Yosemite speed records including a speed record for The Nose of 2:45.45, in 2007. In 2001, Huber made the first free ascent of '''' through the huge roofs of the north face of Cima Ovest in the Dolomites (the birthplace of big wall climbing), which was the world's first-ever big wall route at the grade . In 2005, Huber freed the famous ', the hardest big wall route in the French Alps at the time at , and in 2007, he returned to the Cima Ovest to free the route ', also at . During this period, Huber also made important big wall ascents in the Karakoram (Tsering Mosong on Latok II, 1997), in Patagonia (Golden Eagle in 2006 and El Bastardo in 2008, on Fitz Roy), in Antarctica (Sound of Silence on Ulvetanna Peak, 2008), and on Baffin Island (Bavarian Direct on Mount Asgard, 2012). In 2009, Huber and his brother Thomas freed the famous high-altitude big wall route, Eternal Flame (5.13a), on the Nameless Tower in Pakistan. Free solo climbing Huber has made some of the most important free solo climbing ascents in history. In 2002, Huber free soloed at 17-pitches of the 580-metre Brandler-Hasse Direttissima (5.12a) on the Cima Grande in the Dolomites, which was the first-ever free solo of a graded big wall route in history. In 2003, he free soloed the sport climbing route, Der Opportunist in Austria, which was only the second-ever free solo of an graded route in history. In 2004, Huber free soloed Kommunist in Austria, which was the first-ever free solo of an graded route in history; Huber called this solo a "search for my limits". Huber said that after his 2008 free solo of the multi-pitch 280-metre route Locker Vom Hocker , he largely stopped doing free solo climbs at very extreme grades saying: "You mustn't forget that free soloing is very, very risky indeed. Even for the best climbers who seemingly have everything under control". ==Notable climbs==

Sport climbing Huber was considered one of the world's best sport climbers. • 1991 – Shogun , Karlstein, Bavaria, first ascent, and Huber's first grade . • 1992 – Om , Triangel, Bavaria, first ascent, and second-ever in history. • 1994 – Weisse Rose , Schleierwasserfall, Austria, first ascent. • 1995 – Salathé Wall (5.13b, VI, 36-pitches), El Capitan, Yosemite, first-ever redpoint at the grade (Skinner and Piana co-led the FFA in 1988). • 1998 – El Nino (5.13c, VI, A0, 30-pitches), El Capitan, first (almost free) ascent bar a down-abseil on pitch-13 (A0); was the third route to be freed on El Capitan and the first on the North America Wall. • 1998 – Freerider (5.12d/5,13a, VI, 30-pitches), El Capitan, first free ascent, and in 15:25 was the first El Capitan route inside 24 hrs. Huber discovered it on the Salathe; it became a classic that Huber called the "Astroman of the new millennium"; free soloed by Alex Honnold 2017. • 2001 – '''' (10-pitches, 500-metres), on the Cima Ovest, Dolomites, Italy, first free ascent through the huge roof; first-ever big wall route at 8c; Huber later discovered subsequent climbers had "treated" some holds to soften grade. • 2001 – El Corazon (5.13b, 35-pitches), El Capitan, first free ascent; combination of Salathé Wall, Albatross, Son of Heart and Heart Route. • 2003 – Free Zodiac (5.13d, VI, 16-pitches), El Capitan, first free ascent of the overhanging 1972 aid route; with the famous "Nipple pitch". • 2004 – Zodiac (5.8, A2+, 16-pitches), El Capitan, speed record on the 1972 aid climbing version of Zodiac in 1:51:34 (fastest route on El Capitan). • 2005 – '''' (16-pitches, 450-metres), on Grand Capucin, Mont Blanc, first free ascent of famous 1997 route. • 2007 – '' (9-pitches, 450-metres), the Cima Ovest, first free ascent; starts per Bellavista'' but breaches roof. • 2007 – The Nose (5.9, A1), El Capitan, Yosemite, speed record with Thomas Huber on the aid climbing version of The Nose in 2:45:45. • 2008 – Sansara (6-pitch, 200-metres, east face Grubhorn), and Feuertaufe (7-pitches, 250-metres, south face Sonnwand), FFAs at . High-altitude climbing , 2012 Huber took part in several expeditions to famous big wall climbing locations including the high-altitude walls of Trango Tower, the stormy towers of Patagonia, and the extreme-cold of Ulvetanna in Antarctica; climbing usually with his brother Thomas, but also often part of a larger climbing team in an alpine style approach: • 1998 – Tichy Route, northwest ridge of Cho Oyu (8,188-metres), Himalaya, Nepal, Huber climbed the eight thousander by the "standard route" to understand effects of extreme altitude. • 2002 – In Patagonia, ascends: Cerro Torre (via Compressor Route, V A1), Fitz Roy (via Franco-Argentina, VII), and later Cerro Standhardt (via Exocet, 6b, winter ascent); in 2008, Torre Egger. • 2006 – Golden Eagle (5.11, V, A1, 800-metres), southwest face Aguja Desmochada, Fitzroy, first ascent. • 2008 – El Bastardo (5.11, V, A1, 500-metres), south face Aguja de la Silla, Fitzroy, Patagonia, first ascent. • 2008 – Eiszeit (VII+, A4, 24-pitches, 750-metres), west face, and Skywalk (VII−, 10-pitches, 450-metres), north pillar of Holtanna, both first ascents, in Antarctica. • 2008 – Sound of Silence (VIII-, 5.11a, A2, 20-pitches, 800-metres) on the west pillar of Ulvetanna, in Antarctica, first ascent. • 2012 – Bavarian Direct (5.13b, 28-pitches, 700-metres), on Mount Asgard, Canada, first free ascent of the 1997 aid climb with Thomas Huber. Free solo rock climbing Huber was one of the few climbers to free solo extreme grades in both single-pitch and big wall routes. • 2002 – Brandler-Hasse Direttissima (5.12a, 17-pitches, 580-metres) of Cima Grande, Dolomites; the first-ever big wall solo at grade . • 2003 – Der Opportunist (18-metres), Schleierfall, Austria; the second-ever free solo of an graded route. • 2008 – Locker Vom Hocker (8-pitches, 280-metres), Schüsselkarspitze, Germany; Huber's last extreme-level free solo. • 2009 – Tour Muriciana (8-pitches, 285-metres), on Mallo Pison, Mallos de Riglos, Spain; first free solo of the route. ==Bibliography==

• Speed climbing The Nose: == See also ==