Kurt Albert
Kurt Albert ( born January 28, 1954 in Nuremberg, † 28 September 2010 in Erlangen ) was a German climber, mountaineer, photographer and teacher.
Alpinism
At 14, Kurt Albert was a Catholic youth group and a section of the Alpine Club for climbing. This period was the heyday of technical climbing, i.e., hooks and ladders were used for locomotion in the wall. Albert's first major goals were the classic faces of the Alps. So he already succeeded at the age of 17 years, the Walker pillar on the Grandes Jorasses and a year later the Eiger North Face.
After a visit in 1973 in the Saxon Switzerland, where it was freeclimbed since the end of the 19th century, Kurt Albert was of the opinion that the technical climbing leads to a dead end. Then he tried to climb up to that technically gekletterte routes in Northern Frankenjura without hooks help. From 1975 he was selected tours that he had committed freely, with a red dot. He is considered the founder of the red dot and Rotkreiskletterns. His definition of Rotpunktkletterns - the fall and rest free lead climbing a route only to natural movements and kicks - revolutionized climbing and is today the world-renowned style outdoor climbing.
He could through systematic training the climbing difficulties of " VI " ( UIAA ) in 1974 in the route " coffin " up to " IX " in 1982 in the route boost "Magnet".
In 1981 he succeeded Wolfgang Güllich to transfer sport climbing in the Alps, as he climbed the route " Locker socks off " VIII ( UIAA ). In 1987, he climbed together with Gerold Sprachmann first redpoint the Direttissima pinnacle of the Great North Wall (VIII ).
The routes of Kurt Albert presented to a large extent is also the most difficult routes in Germany and are now considered extreme classic. Mentioned here are the routes " Golden Roof " (VIII ) " juicer " (VIII ), " Erazerhead " (VIII ), " Sautanz " ( IX ), " Humbug " ( IX ), " Balloon roof " (IX ) or " magnetic " ( IX); all routes are given with their UIAA difficulty. Another difficulty increase in first ascents remained unfulfilled as his fingers could no longer stand the greater stresses in this grade. There he succeeded but some repetitions of paths in the tenth grade.
Kurt Albert was awarded in 1985 alongside Wolfgang Güllich and Sepp Gschwendtner the Silver Laurel Leaf, the highest sports award in the Federal Republic of Germany.
With his climbing partners ( such as Wolfgang Güllich, Stefan Glowacz, Bernd Arnold and Holger Heuber ) he was in the Alps, in Madagascar, in Patagonia, in the Karakoram ( Trango Towers) and mountaineering worked on Baffin Island. His first ascents include the " Make Slovenes " (VIII ) and " Eternal Flame" ( IX-/A2 ) on Trango Nameless Tower and " Riders on the Storm" ( IX/A2 ) and " Royal Flush " (IX ) in Patagonia.
Fatal Accident
On September 26, 2010 Kurt Albert crashed on height luck climbing ferrata near deer creek 18 meters from and injured his hard there. He succumbed to his injuries two days later in a hospital Erlangen. The police investigation revealed that the crash occurred at the sharp corner and Albert had slipped according to witnesses. Obviously, the tape loop of self- assurance was unfavorable to the unscrewed carbine. When Albert sat in the self- assurance to take a picture, the loop opened the carabiner gate and hung off.