Peter Habeler

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

Among his accomplishments as a mountaineer are his first ascents in the Rocky Mountains (first European to climb on the Big Walls in Yosemite National Park).

He began climbing with Reinhold Messner in 1969. Several accomplishments in mountaineering followed. The most spectacular event was the first ascent without supplemental oxygen of Mount Everest in 1978 together with Messner, which had previously been thought as impossible. Habeler set a further record by descending from the summit to the South Col in only one hour.

Other eight-thousanders (mountains over 8,000 meters) that Habeler has summited are Cho Oyu, Nanga Parbat, Kangchenjunga and Hidden Peak. The ascent of Hidden Peak was made with Messner in 1975, Alpine-style in three days, and is seen be 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.

He founded the Peter Habeler Ski and Mountaineering School in his hometown of Mayrhofen, Austria. The school is now run by his son, though Peter still teaches on occasion.