Reinhold Messner is a legend among mountaineers. He is said to be the first person to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in the world. According to new calculations, two titles have now been revoked.
Mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner (79) receives support from the new record man after losing two titles in the Guinness Book of Records. When asked by dpa, the American Ed Viesturs (64) said: “I am firmly convinced that Reinhold Messner was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders and that this should still be recognized today.”
To date, Messner was recorded in the Guinness Book as the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders in the world – and the first person to do so without the help of oxygen from a bottle. According to new calculations, the organizers of the book in the new edition award these titles to Viesturs, who achieved his last missing eight-thousander in 2005 with Annapurna.
New calculations with geodata
The Guinness decision is based on new calculations using geodata, according to which many mountaineers turned back before reaching the “true summit”. The German Himalayan chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski has long claimed that Messner never stood at the top of the 8,091 meter high Annapurna. “Messner was at one point 65 meters ahead and five meters below the summit,” said Jurgalski.
The calculations are controversial in mountaineering circles. “I still think the original list of climbers of the 14 eight-thousanders, as I always knew it, is true,” says the new record holder Viesturs. “I believe that Messner and the others did their utmost to climb the true peaks of these mountains, to the best of their knowledge and under the conditions they found there.”
Messner was the pioneer
About Messner, Viesturs says: “He was the trailblazer, not only stylistically, but also physically and mentally, by climbing without additional oxygen. Other mountaineers, like me, were inspired by him to follow in his footsteps.”
Messner told the dpa about the loss of the title that he had never claimed such a “world record” in his life. “You can’t take away a record that I’ve never claimed.” Viesturs also said: “Mountaineering is a personal journey, and it should not be about being on a list or setting records.”
Messner about Jurgalski: “He has no idea”
Messner said to Jurgalski: “He has no idea. He’s not an expert. He simply confused the mountain. Of course we reached the summit.”
Source: Stern
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