Peter Habeler (born 22 July 1942) is an Austrian mountaineer. He was born in

Mayrhofen Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located approximately an hour from the Tyrolean capital city of Innsbruck. Population Tourism The town offers a variety of summer and winter spor ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He developed an interest in mountain climbing at age six.http://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/habeler Among his accomplishments as a mountaineer are his first ascents in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. He was also the first European to climb on the Big Walls in Yosemite National Park. He began climbing with

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental ...

in 1969. Several accomplishments in mountaineering followed. The most notable event was the first ascent without supplemental oxygen of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

on 8 May 1978 together with Messner, which was previously thought to be impossible. A year after his climb on Everest he published ''Lonely Victory ("Der einsame Sieg". Autor: Eberhard Fuchs)'' in 1978.http://www.thecourier.com.uk Habeler set further records by descending from the summit to the South Col in only one hour and climbing the North Face of the Eiger in ten hours. Other eight-thousanders (mountains over 8,000 meters) that Habeler has summited are Cho Oyu,

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat ( ur, ) (; ), known locally as Diamer () which means “king of the mountains”, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, its summit at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in ...

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the ...

and

Gasherbrum I Gasherbrum I ( ur, ; ), surveyed as K5 and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located in Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan. Gasherbrum I is part of the G ...

. He has also climbed Yerupaja Chico (6089 m) in Peru's

Cordillera Huayhuash Huayhuash (possibly from Quechua ''waywash'', weasel'','' or ''waywashi'', squirrel) is a mountain range within the Andes of Peru, in the boundaries of the regions of Ancash, Lima and Huánuco.escale.minedu.gob.pe - UGEL map of the Cajatambo Pr ...

. The ascent of Gasherbrum I was made with Messner in 1975, Alpine-style in three days, and is seen by some as ushering in a new era of Alpine-style ascents of eight-thousanders, in contrast to the "siege" tactics which had largely prevailed to this time. It was the first time an eight-thousander had been climbed Alpine-style. Habeler attempted to climb Everest again in 2000 but failed to do so due to fluid in his lungs. Habeler became a skiing instructor at age 21 and founded the Peter Habeler Ski and Mountaineering School in his hometown of

. The school is now run by his son, though Habeler still teaches on occasion. At age 74, he repeated an ascent on The Eiger's north face with David Lama.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habeler, Peter Austrian mountain climbers 1942 births Living people Austrian summiters of Mount Everest People from Schwaz District Sportspeople from Tyrol (state)