Kurt Albert, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetKurt Albert
German rock climber and mountaineer
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
About Kurt Albert
- Kurt Albert (January 28, 1954 – September 28, 2010) was a climber and photographer.
- He started climbing at the age of 14.
- Before he wholly committed his life to climbing in 1986 he was a mathematics and physics teacher. At the age of seventeen he climbed the Walkerpfeiler in the Grandes Jorasses and one year later he climbed the north face of the Eiger.
- After a visit to the Saxon Switzerland climbing area in Saxony, Germany in 1973 he recognized the potential of free climbing (free climbing was practised in Saxony since the early 19th century).
- He started to free climb in his home climbing area, the Frankenjura.
- In the routes he would now try to ascend while free climbing, he would—in between attempts—paint a red 'X' on the rocks near pitons he did not need as holds or steps.
- Once he could place a red 'X' on all the pitons and hooks in the route, and was thus able to free climb the entire route, he would paint a red dot at the base of the route.
- From this comes the English term "redpoint", which is derived from the German Rotpunkt, meaning "red dot" or "red point".
- In many ways this was the origin of the free climbing movement that led to the development of sport climbing some years later. Albert was severely injured in a climbing accident on September 26, 2010.
- Albert fell 18 metres (59 ft) while taking pictures at via ferrata Höhenglücksteig close to Hirschbach, Bavaria.
- Albert died two days later while hospitalised in Erlangen.
Read more at Wikipedia