September 29, 2010 – Kurt Albert (1954 – 2010)

The legendary German climber Kurt Albert passed away last night at Erlangen hospital in Bavaria, Germany from injuries he incurred after falling from a via ferrata. Albert started climbing at the age of 14 at his local crags in Frankenjura and quickly moved the alpine routes in the Grandes Jorasses, Eiger and the Italian Dolomites. While these alpine climbs would eventually fuel Albert’s passion for difficult routes in mountains, he initially turned his attention to pushing the limits of the emerging free climbing movement. In 1975, Albert realized that technical aid routes were no longer the future of climbing and introduced the rotpunkt philosophy; routes that had been free climbed were identified with a painted red dot at the base of the climb. This red dot or rotpunkt would eventually become the climbing term redpoint. More details here.