Paul Preuss - Author

Paul Preuss was an Austrian mountain climber, skier and Alpinist of the highest repute in the early 1900s. Many consider him the father of free climbing. Famed mountaineer Reinhold Messner has described Preuss as a role model and wrote his biography in German (The Philosopher of Free Climbing: The History of Paul Preuss, 1996). Preuss is also the subject of books by Severino Casara and, most recently, by David Smart (Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss, 2019).

Preuss opposed the use of pitons or any artificial aids, and his views were often published in the Deutsche Alpenzeitung. He accomplished 300 free-solo ascents and 150 first ascents before falling to his death, at age 27, in October 1913.

Also an accomplished skier, Preuss pioneered touring routes throughout the Alps in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. He is credited with first ski ascents/descents on the Dreiherrnspitze in 1912 and the Gran Paradiso in 1913.