Reinhold Messner (1a)

Reinhold Messner (born 17 September 1944) is a mountaineer, adventurer, explorer, and author from the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, "whose astonishing feats on Everest and on peaks throughout the world have earned him the status of the greatest climber in history."[1] He is renowned for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and for being the first climber to ascend all fourteen "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level). He is the author of at least 63 books (in German, 19702006), many of which have been translated into other languages.

Biography[edit]
Born in Brixen (Bressanone), Italy, Messner is a native speaker of German and Italian, and also fluent in English.[2] He grew up in Villn and spent his early years climbing in theAlps and fell in love with the Dolomites. His father, Josef Messner, was a teacher. He was also very strict and sometimes severe with Reinhold. Josef led Reinhold to his first summit at the age of five. Reinhold had eight brothers and one sister; he later climbed with his brother Gnther and made Arctic crossings with his brother Hubert. When Reinhold was 13, he began climbing with his brother Gnther, age 11. By the time Reinhold and Gnther were in their early twenties, they were among Europe's best climbers.[3] 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 ("siege tactics") disrespectful toward nature and mountains. Messner's first major Himalayan climb in 1970, the unclimbed Rupal face of Nanga Parbat, turned out to be a tragic success. Both he and his brother Gnther reached the summit, but Gnther died

two days later on the descent of the Diamir face. Reinhold lost six toes, which had become badly frostbitten during the climb and required amputation.[3] Reinhold was severely criticized for persisting on this climb with less experienced Gnther.[4] The 2010 movie Nanga Parbat by Joseph Vilsmaier is based on his account of the events.[5] 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.[6] In 1978, he reached the summit of Everest with Habeler.[6] This was the first time anyone had been that high without bottled oxygen and Messner and Habeler proved 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 fourteeneight-thousanders (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level).[7] Messner has crossed Antarctica on skis, together with fellow explorer Arved Fuchs. He has written over 60 books [8] 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. Messner today carries on a diversified business related to his mountaineering skills. 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. He now mainly devotes himself to theMessner Mountain Museum, of which he is the founder.