Reinhold Messner (Reinhold Messner) – one of the most famous climbers in the history of world mountaineering. He was the first to conquer all eight-thousanders, that is, mountain peaks whose height exceeds 8,000 meters.
In addition, he writes books and is a member of the European Parliament. The future climber-legend Reinhold Messner was born on September 17, 1944 in the Italian city of Bressanone, in the autonomous province of South Tyrol.
From childhood, Reinhold Messner was surrounded by the nature of the Alps, which became his first conquered mountains. This happened during his studies at the University of Padova, where he studied architecture. Messner made his first ascents with his brother Gunther.
In the Himalayas, where he will make his main conquest of the peaks, Reinhold first came at the age of 26 in 1970. By that time, behind his shoulders were already climbing the most difficult walls of the Alps, as well as to the peak of Jerupaya in the Peruvian Andes. Reinhold and his brother Gunther were on the team of Karl Herligkoffer.
The expedition passed along the southern wall of one of the eight-thousanders of the Himalayas, Mount Nangaparabat, which is one of the most dangerous for climbing. However, the conquest of the first eight-thousander in the career of Reinhold Messner was greatly overshadowed.
During the descent, his brother Gunther died, whose body was found only in 2005. Reinhold himself was amputated by 7 toes as a result of frostbite. After returning to Europe, there was a lawsuit between Herligkoffer and Messner due to the publication of Reinhold’s book on climbing Nangaparabat. Messner will remember this ascent throughout his life, giving himself the word – never in the future, not to participate in large expeditions.
During the second conquest of the next eight-thousander, Mount Manaslu, in 1972, a tragedy occurred again: Messner’s companion died. But this ascent was carried out along a still unfulfilled route from the south side. In 1975, the eight-thousander was conquered – Hidden Peak or Gasherbrum I.
Reinhold Messner made the ascent with his partner Peter Habeler, again along a hitherto unseen route from the north. Climbers moved quite lightly and even without oxygen equipment. This climb opened the era of high-speed subjugation of eight-thousanders. Three years later, in 1978, the highest mountain in the world was conquered – Everest, again with Peter Habeler and again without oxygen equipment.
In the same year, he already made a solitary climb to Nangaparabat, and in 1979 he conquered Chogori. In 1980, a single oxygen-free climb to Everest took place. A feature of this ascent was that Messner performed it during the monsoon rains, which no one had done before him.
Over the next five years, seven more eight-thousanders will be conquered. The last will be the mountains of Makalu and Lhotse in 1986. After this, Messner became the first to conquer all the eight-thousanders of the world. However, the legendary climber did not stop only on the mountains and began to overcome the desert.
Messner is an active promoter of mountaineering, while being a supporter of minimal technologization. In total, he wrote 70 books, including a textbook on mountaineering. The most famous is the book “Crystal Horizon”. Messner currently resides in South Tyrol.
