Born:
1987, Hohenems, Vorarlberg, Austria
Biggest achievement:
DMM athlete since:
2009
Alex Luger is an Austrian climber from Hohenems in Vorarlberg, born into a climbing family and shaped from an early age by the big limestone walls of the Northern Alps. A defining moment came at eleven years old, abseiling into the Verdon Gorge with his father, an experience that cemented his path in life. Since then he has become one of the most accomplished and adventurous all-round climbers in the world, equally at home on hard single-pitch sport routes and committing ground-up alpine first ascents with minimal gear. His signature achievements are concentrated in the Rätikon, where he has pushed the limits of what is possible on big mountain walls: the first free ascent of The Gift (8c, 350m) on the Drusenfluh in 2015 after two years of preparation, and the ground-up first ascent of Seventh Direction (8c, 220m) on the Drusenfluh east face in 2018 after five years of work. A Sports Science graduate who turned professional straight out of university, Alex is driven not by grades alone but by the romance and challenge of hard climbing in serious mountain terrain. He has since trained as an Existential Analyst and Psychotherapist, and now combines the two professions.