The most famous
climber in the world today, Reinhold Messner has been
climbing since he was five years old. Born September 17,
1944 in Villnöss in the South Tyrol/Italy.
By the age of 20, he had climbed most of the hardest routes
in the Dolmites and Western Alps together with his brother
Günther and had already started to formulate his
dedication and philosophy in clean lightweight alpine-style
climbing.
Günther was later killed by an avalanche near the
base camp on Nanga Parbat after the first successful ascent
of the Rupal Face. This was the Messner brothers first
Himalayan expedition and a great personal lost for Reinhold
that took many years to get over.
After the first oxygen less climb of Everest, his solo
ascents of Nanga Parbat and Everest, being the first to
climb all 14 eight-thou sanders and finishing the "Seven
Summits" as the third person, he is a living legend
among climbers.
Reinhold Messner: "As far as the public is concerned,
since 1978 my sensational climbs - Everest without oxygen
and Nanga Parbat solo - are unsurpassable." Messner
himself consider the traverse between Gasherbrum I and
II with Hans Kammerlander in 1984 to be his supreme Himalayan
achievement.
In 1975 he and Peter Habeler made a statement that they
were going to attack an 8,000 metre mountain in the same
manners as done in the Alps. Reinhold declared what he
meant as alpine style: the start of the climb is done
from the bottom of the mountain and you carry all the
gears with you on the way, if any bivouacs, they will
be found on the way. No route preparation is done. Supplemental
oxygen is not used.
They where successful on Hidden Peak, by leaving almost
everything behind, climbing unroped they made a fast ascent
through a new route. This was the second ever ascent of
the mountain!
Something to remember about Messners climbs that really
point out his capabilities is that until today he is the
only person to have climbed the extremely dangerous Rupal
Face of Nanga Parbat and probably the only person that
ever truly will climb Everest alone. Today the mountain
is crowded and if someone claims to have climbed it "solo",
it means that it was done without help from others from
the last camp to the summit. Not to forget is that his
climb was done during the summer, regarded as monsoon
season, something never done before.
Messner is also one of the few western people that claim
to have seen the Yeti. He's said to have met it twice,
the second time during one of his latest expeditions to
Karakorum, now with pictures as proof!? They where promised
to be published in his book about the Yeti - but no real
proof were actually published. Instead he speculates that
the Yeti is a large, long haired bear.
Some people say of Messner that his personality has changed
after his high altitude climbs, they suspect brain damage
due to lack of oxygen, and uses him as a warning example
of what can happen when pushing it to hard on extreme
altitudes. The famous Pakistani climber, Nazir Sabir who's
been climbing with Messner, also says to have introduced
Messner to the art of smoking hashish at high altitudes.
If this is true, it's not hard to imagine that this must
be an easy way of loosing brain cells by millions!! It's
also said that Messner didn't like it...
Messner has not only faced fame, he is a very strong personality
that never leaves other people without an opinion. Saying
what he thinks and what he belive is true, more than once
he has been the one people chose not to belive in. Or
more precise, the didn't wanted to belive his version.
When he failed on several expeditions in the mid -70:
s, people where happy about his failures! He has also
been accused for being a lunatic having brain damage due
to lack of oxygen at high altitude.
Even among fellow mountaineers he faced a lot of criticism.
After his two first expeditions to the Himalayas, he lost
three team mates including his brother Günther. Upon
returning home from those expeditions, he was accused
by the public for leaving his friends behind to die; or
like on
Gasherbrum, when he was accused for "climbing over
bodies" to reach the summit. Later he and Hans Kammerlander
buried the dead Austrian climber in a crevasse, even if
it took them long time and decreased their own chances
to make the celebrated traverse between Gasherbrum I and
II.
Someone have calculated that Reinhold have had a 99, 9%
chance of being killed on his expeditions while reading
statistics. Perhaps, but what the statistics really show
if that by having extraordinary physicals, psyche and
a clear and calculated mind with the ability to take the
right decisions in extreme situations, he has stayed alive
where few, if any would have survived.
Messer who's become a wealthy man has no intention to
settle himself in a risk-free environment in his Castle
Juval in the Italian Alps, he keep on exploring, climbing,
writing and being out on adventures, he says he's too
old to learn something else.
Messner is not only a great climber. In 1990 he was first
again, now by crossing the Antarctic continent on foot.
Later it was time for the Arctic, however the expedition
was unsuccessful, but a second try is on his mind...
By no doubt, Reinhold Messners memory as a top mountaineer
and a true climbing hero will continue inspire generations
of climbers for many, many decades ahead.
Latest news: In the summer of 2004, Messner crossed the
Gobi desert from east to west in six weeks.
Latest climbing news: In the summer of year 2000, Messner
returned to Nanga Parbat 30 years after his first successful
ascent, this time to try an unclimbed route. With him
was his brother Hubert, Hans Peter Eisendle and Wolfgang
Thomaseth. After reaching very high on the mountain wall,
they found the summit ridge too dangerous to continue.
"Reinhold Messner is envied
for his success. But it is not his success one should
envy, it is his style."
SELECTED CLIMBS AND
EXPEDITIONS
-
1964 |
Over 500 climbs in the eastern
Alps, mainly in the Dolmites |
|
1965 |
Ortler
North Face (Direttissima, FA) |
|
1966 |
Yerupaja
Yerupaja Chico (FA)
Walker Spur, Grandes Jorasses
Rocchetta Alta di Bosconero North Face |
|
1967 |
Civetta Northwest Face ("Weg
der Freunde", FA)
Agnér North Edge (FWA)
Furchetta North Face (FWA)
Agnér Northeast Face (FWA) |
|
1968 |
Agnér North Face (FWA)
Eiger North Pillar (FA)
Marmolata South Face (FA) |
|
1969 |
Droites North Face (solo)
Marmolata di Rocca South Face (solo)
Civetta ("Philipp Flamm", solo) |
|
1970 |
Nanga Parbat (8125m, Rupal face,
FA, 3rd EA) |
|
1971 |
Expeditions to Nepal, Pakistan,
Persia East Africa and New Guinea |
|
1972 |
Manaslu (8156m, South Face, 3rd
EA)
Noshaq (7492m, in Hindu Kush) |
|
1973 |
Pelmo Northwest Face (FA)
Marmolata West Pillar (FA)
Furchetta West Face (FA) |
|
1974 |
Eiger north face (in 10 hours)
Aconcagua (6959m, South face, FA) |
|
1975 |
Lhotse (8,516m, South Face, failed)
Gasherbrum I Northwest Face (FA in alpine style,
2nd EA) |
|
1976 |
McKinley (6193m)
"Wall
of the Midnight Sun" (FA) |
|
1977 |
Dhaulagiri (8167m, failed) |
|
1978 |
Mount Everest (8850m, FA without
supplemental oxygen, 15th EA)
Nanga Parbat (8125m, Damir face, first solo ascent
of an 8000m peak)
Kilimanjaro (5963m, Breach Wall, FA) |
|
1979 |
K2 (8611m, first ascent in alpine
style, 4th EA)
Ama Dablam (rescue operation) |
|
1980 |
Mount Everest north side (8850m,
first and only true solo ascent) |
|
1981 |
Shisha Pangma (8012m, 5th EA)
Chamlang North Face (7,317m, FA) |
|
1982 |
Kangchenjunga north face (8598m,
FA, 10th EA)
Gasherbrum II (8035m, 8th EA)
Broad Peak (8048m, 6th EA)
Cho Oyo (8,222m, attempt in winter) |
|
1983 |
Cho Oyo (8,222m, alpine style,
4th EA) |
|
1984 |
Gasherbrum I and II (first traverse
between two 8,000 meter mountains) |
|
1985 |
Annapurna Northwest Face (8,091m,
FA, 12th EA)
Dhaulagiri Northeast Edge (8,167m, alpine style,
20th EA) |
|
1986 |
Makalu (8,485m, failed in winter)
Makalu (8,485m, 17th EA)
Lhotse (8,511m, 8th EA)
Mount Vinson (4,897m, Antarctica) |
|
1987 |
Journeys to Bhutan and the Pamirs |
|
1988 |
Yeti-Tibet-expedition |
|
1989 |
Lhotse (8,511m, South Face attempt) |
|
1990 |
Antarctica (First traverse on
foot, via the South Pole 2,800km in 92 days) |
|
1991 |
Traversed Bhutan (east to west)
Hike in South Tyrol (800km) |
|
1992 |
Chimborazo
Crossed the Takla Makan desert (south to north) |
|
1993 |
Journey to the Dolpo, Mustang
and Manang areas in Nepal
Traverse of Greenland (from southeast to northwest,
2,200km) |
|
1994 |
Himalayan environmental trek
to Gangotri in India
Shivling (6,543m)
Ruwenzori (5,119m, Uganda) |
|
1995 |
Attempt to traverse the Arctic
(Siberia to Canada)
Belucha (4,506m, Altai, Siberia) |
|
1996 |
Journey through East Tibet |
|
1997 |
Journey to Kham (eastern Tibet)
Karakorum-expedition
Documentary on the Ol Doinyo Lengai in Africa |
|
1998 |
Journey to the Altai Mountains
(Mongolia)
Journey to Puna de Atacama (Andes) |
|
1999 |
Documentary on San Francisco
Peaks, USA |
|
2000 |
South Georgia (traverse following
in Shackletons footsteps)
Nanga Partbat (8,125m, attempt to climb a new route) |
| 2002 |
Cotopaxi (Andes) |
| 2004 |
Crossed the Gobi desert. |
* FA
= First Ascent
* FWA
= First Winter Ascent
* EA
= Ever Ascent
Books by Reinhold Messner
» All
Fourteen 8,000:ers
» Free
Spirit : A climbers life
» My
Quest for Yeti : Confronting the Himalayas Deepest Mystery
» The
Crystal Horizon : Everest-The First Solo Ascent
» Annapurna:
50 Years of Expeditions in the Death Zone
» Antarctica
: Both Heaven and Hell
» Everest
: Expedition to the Ultimate
» Hermann
Buhl : Climbing Without Compromise
» Moving
Mountains
» The
Big Walls
» The
Second Death of George Mallory
» Big
Walls : History, Routes, Experiences
» The
Challenge
» K2
» Monte
Rosa
» The
Seventh Grade
» Solo
: Nanga Parbat
Videos about Reinhold Messner
» Everest
unmasked
More about Reinhold Messner
» Reinhold
Messner - mainpage
» Reinhold
Messner - Everest
» Reinhold
Messner - Nanga Parbat 1970 and 1978
» Reinhold
Messner - the Manaslu tragedy
» Reinhold
Messner & Peter Habeler - Hidden Peak in alpine
style
» Reinhold
Messner & Hans Kammerlander - the Gasherbrums
How to contact Reinhold
Messner
Büro Reinhold Messner
Europaallee 2
I-39012 Meran
Tel./Fax: 0039-0473-221852
E-mail: info@reinholdmessner.it
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