Reinhold Andreas Messner (German: [ˈʁaɪnhɔlt ˈmɛsnɐ]; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
From 1999 to 2004, Messner served as a member of the European Parliament for north-east Italy, as a member of the Federation of the Greens.
Messner has published more than 80 books about his experiences as a climber and explorer. In 2010, he received the 2nd Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, he received jointly with Krzysztof Wielicki the Princess of Asturias Award in the category of Sports.
Early life and education
Messner was born to a German-speaking family in St. Peter, Villnöß, near Brixen in South Tyrol, which is part of Italy. According to his sister, his delivery was difficult as he was a large baby and the birth took place during an air raid. His mother Maria (1913–1995) was the daughter of a shop owner and 4 years older than her husband. His father Josef (1917–1985) was drafted to serve the German army and participated in World War II on the Russian front. After the war, he was an auxiliary teacher until 1957, when he became the director of the local school. Messner was the second of nine children – Helmut (born 1943), Günther (1946–1970), Erich (born 1948), Waltraud (born 1949), Siegfried (1950–1985), Hubert (born 1953), Hansjörg (born 1955) and Werner (born 1957), and grew up in modest means.
Messner spent his early years climbing in the Alps and falling in love with the Dolomites. His father was strict and sometimes severe with him. He led Reinhold to his first summit at the age of five.
When Messner was 13, he began climbing with his brother Günther, age 11. By the time Reinhold and Günther were in their early twenties, they were among Europe's best climbers.
Since the 1960s, Messner, inspired by Hermann Buhl, was one of the first and most enthusiastic supporters of alpine style mountaineering in the Himalayas, which consisted of climbing with very light equipment and a minimum of external help. Messner considered the usual expedition style (which he dubbed "siege tactics") disrespectful toward nature and mountains.
Career
Before his first major Himalayan climb in 1970, Messner had made a name for himself mainly through his achievements in the Alps. Between 1960 and 1964, he led over 500 ascents, most of them in the Dolomites. In 1965, he climbed a new direttissima route on the north face of the Ortler. A year later, he climbed the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses and ascended the Rocchetta Alta di Bosconero. In 1967, he made the first ascent of the northeast face of the Agnèr and the first winter ascents of the Agnèr north face and Furchetta north face.
In 1968, he achieved further firsts: the Heiligkreuzkofel middle pillar and the direct south face of the Marmolada. In 1969, Messner joined an Andes expedition, during which he succeeded, together with Peter Habeler, in making the first ascent of the Yerupaja east face up to the summit ridge and, a few days later, the first ascent of the 6,121-metre-high (20,082 ft) Yerupaja Chico. He also made the first solo ascent of the Droites north face, the Philipp-Flamm intersection on the Civetta and the south face of Marmolada di Rocca. As a result, Messner won the reputation of being one of the best climbers in Europe.
In 1970, Messner was invited to join a major Himalayan expedition that was going to attempt the unclimbed Rupal face of Nanga Parbat. The expedition, which was the major turning point in his life, turned out to be a tragic success. Both he and his brother Günther reached the summit but Günther died two days later on the descent of the Diamir face. Reinhold lost seven toes, which had become badly frostbitten during the climb and required amputation. Reinhold was severely criticized for persisting on this climb with the less experienced Günther. The 2010 movie Nanga Parbat by Joseph Vilsmaier is based on his account of the events.
While Messner and Peter Habeler were noted for fast ascents in the Alps of the Eiger North Wall, standard route (10 hours) and Les Droites (8 hours), his 1975 Gasherbrum I first ascent of a new route took three days. This was unheard of at the time.
In the 1970s, Messner championed the cause for ascending Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, saying that he would do it "by fair means" or not at all. In 1978, he reached the summit of Everest with Habeler. This was the first time anyone had been that high without supplemental oxygen and Messner and Habeler achieved what certain doctors, specialists, and mountaineers thought impossible. He repeated the feat, without Habeler, from the Tibetan side in 1980, during the monsoon season. This was Everest's first solo summit.
In 1978, he made a solo ascent of the Diamir face of Nanga Parbat. In 1986, Messner became the first to complete all fourteen eight-thousanders (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level).
Messner has crossed Antarctica on skis, together with fellow explorer Arved Fuchs. He has written over 80 books about his experiences, a quarter of which have been translated. He was featured in the 1984 film The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Werner Herzog. From 1999 to 2004, he held political office as a Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green Party (Federazione dei Verdi). He was also among the founders of Mountain Wilderness, an international NGO dedicated to the protection of mountains worldwide.
In 2004 he completed a 2,000-kilometre (1,200 mi) expedition through the Gobi Desert. In 2006, he founded the Messner Mountain Museum.
Expeditions
Ascents above 8,000m
Messner was the first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders in the world and without supplemental oxygen. His climbs were also all amongst the first 20 ascents for each mountain individually. Specifically, these are:
Other expeditions since 1970
1971 – Journeys to the mountains of Iran, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan and East Africa;
1972 – Noshaq (7,492 m or 24,580 feet) in the Hindu Kush;
1973 – Marmolada West Pillar, first climb; Furchetta West Face, first climb;
1974 – Aconcagua south wall (6,959 m or 22,831 feet), partially new "South Tyrol Route"; Eiger North Face with Peter Habeler in 10 hours (a record that stood for 34 years, for a roped party);
1976 – Denali (6,193 m or 20,318 feet), "Face of the Midnight Sun", first climb;
1978 – Kilimanjaro (5,895 m or 19,341 feet), "Breach Wall", first climb;
1979 – Ama Dablam rescue attempt; first climbs in the Hoggar Mountains, Africa;
1981 – Chamlang (7,317 m or 24,006 feet) Centre Summit-North Face, first climb;
1984 – Double-Traverse of Gasherbrum II and I with Hans Kammerlander;
1985 – Tibet Transversale with Kailash exploration;
1986 – Crossing of East Tibet; Mount Vinson (4,897 m or 16,066 feet, Antarctic), on 3 December 1986, thus becoming the first person to complete Seven Summits without the use of supplemental oxygen on Mount Everest;
1987 – Bhutan trip; Pamir trip;
1988 – Yeti-Tibet solo expedition;
1989–1990 – Antarctic crossing (over the South Pole) on foot, 2,800-kilometre (1,700-mile) trek with Arved Fuchs;
1991 – Bhutan crossing (east-west); "Around South Tyrol" as a positioning exercise, where he was peripherally involved in the Ötzi find, being among the groups who inspected the mummy on-site the day after its initial discovery;
1992 – Ascent of Chimborazo (6,310 m or 20,700 feet); crossing of Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang;
1993 – Trip to Dolpo, Mustang and Manang in Nepal; Greenland longitudinal crossing (diagonal) on foot, 2,200-kilometre (1,400-mile) trek;
1994 – Cleaning project in North India/Gangotri, Shivling region (6,543 m or 21,467 feet); to Ruwenzori (5,119 m or 16,795 feet), Uganda;
1995 – Arctic crossing (Siberia to Canada) failed; trip to Belukha (4,506 m or 14,783 feet), Altai Mountains/Siberia;
1996 – Trip through East Tibet and to Kailash.
1997 – Trip to Kham (East Tibet); small expedition into Karakoram; filming on the Ol Doinyo Lengai (holy mountain of the Maasai) in Tanzania
1998 – Trip to the Altai Mountains (Mongolia) and to Puna de Atacama (Andes)
1999 – Filming: San Francisco Peaks, Arizona (Holy mountain of Navajo); trip into the Thar Desert/India
2000 – Crossing of South Georgia on the Shackleton Route; Nanga Parbat Expedition; filming on Mount Fuji/Japan for the ZDF series Wohnungen der Götter (~"Homes of the Gods")
2001 – Dharamsala and foothills of the Himalayas/India; ZDF series Wohnungen der Götter on Gunung Agung/Bali
2002 – In the "International Year of the Mountains" visit by mountaineers into the Andes and ascent of Cotopaxi (5,897 m or 19,347 feet), Ecuador
2003 – Trekking to Mount Everest (fiftieth anniversary of the first successful climb); trip to Franz Joseph Land/Arctic; on 1 October opening of the "Günther Mountain School" in the Diamir Valley on Nanga Parbat/Pakistan
2004 – Longitudinal crossing of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia) on foot, about 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) trek
2005 – Trip to the Dyva Nomads in Mongolia; "time journey" around Nanga Parbat/Pakistan
Climbs
Nanga Parbat
Reinhold Messner took a total of five expeditions to Nanga Parbat. In 1970 and 1978 he reached the summit (in 1978 solo); in 1971, 1973 and 1977, he did not. In 1971 he was primarily looking for his brother's remains.
Rupal Face 1970
In May and June 1970, Messner took part in the Nanga Parbat South Face expedition led by Karl Herrligkoffer, the objective of which was to climb the as yet unclimbed Rupal Face, the highest rock and ice face in the world. Messner's brother, Günther, was also a member of the team. On the morning of 27 June, Messner was of the view that the weather would deteriorate rapidly, and set off alone from the last high-altitude camp. Surprisingly his brother climbed after him and caught up to him before the summit. By late afternoon, both had reached the summit of the mountain and had to pitch an emergency bivouac shelter without tent, sleeping bags and stoves because darkness was closing in.
The events that followed have been the subject of years of legal actions and disputes between former expedition members, and have still not been finally resolved. What is known now is that Reinhold and Günther Messner descended the Diamir Face, thereby achieving the first traverse of Nanga Parbat and second traverse of an eight-thousander after Mount Everest in 1963. Reinhold arrived in the valley six days later with severe frostbite, but survived. His brother, Günther, however died on the Diamir Face—according to Reinhold Messner on the same descent, during which they became further and further separated from each other. As a result, the time, place and exact cause of death are unknown. Messner said his brother had been swept away by an avalanche.
In June 2005, after an unusual heat wave on the mountain, the body of his brother was recovered on the Diamir Face, which seems to support Messner's account of how Günther died.
The drama was turned into a film Nanga Parbat (2010) by Joseph Vilsmaier, based on the memories of Reinhold Messner and without participation from the other former members of the expedition. Released in January 2010 in cinemas, the film was criticised by the other members of the team for telling only one side of the story.
Because of severe frostbite, especially on his feet—seven toes were amputated—Messner was not able to climb quite as well on rock after the 1970 expedition. He therefore turned his attention to higher mountains, where there was much more ice.
Solo climb in 1978
On 9 August 1978, after three unsuccessful expeditions, Messner reached the summit of Nanga Parbat again via the Diamir Face.