IMAGE: ©HARALD WISTHALER
ME ET THE MOUNTAINE E R REINHOLD MESSNER
One of history’s greatest adventurers, Reinhold Messner has spent a lifetime pushing the limits of human endurance in the world’s highest places. Here, he discusses Everest, his new museum and what’s gone wrong with modern mountaineering
WORDS: MI KE MAC EACHE R AN
Few adventurers have redefined the limits of human endurance like Reinhold Messner. Raised in South Tyrol, the 81-year-old Italian explorer was the first to summit all 14 of the planet’s highest peaks, including Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga. At age five, he scaled his first 10,000ft Dolomite summit, discovering a sense of freedom that would come to define his life. This drive has carried him through ever more extreme landscapes, from the Himalayas to Antarctica, Greenland and the Gobi Desert. His uncompromising A-B-C-D philosophy — no oxygen, no bolts, no communication, no drugs — has inspired generations, and he’s authored more than 80 books on his death-or-glory expeditions. This summer, in the Drei Zinnen Dolomites, he opened the Reinhold Messner Haus: part museum, part tribute, part living dialogue with the mountains he calls home. His legacy, he says, rests not on giant leaps, but small steps.
Tell us about your earliest memory of travel. As a child, I climbed my first 9,000ft mountain in the Geiseler Spitzen with my parents. We were eight boys and one girl in the family, and with no swimming pool or football pitch in our valley — only rocks and boulders — climbing became our way of expressing ourselves. My younger brother Günther and I quickly became passionate rock climbers. After mastering the Dolomites, we moved on to the Alps, and eventually, invitations came to join expeditions around the world.
What motivated you to push the limits of mountaineering? On my first 26,000ft expedition, to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, my brother died in an avalanche. Afterwards I had to decide: should I just live a normal life or continue as an adventurer, but one specialising in high-altitude climbing? I’d already lost several toes to frostbite [Reinhold now has only three], which ended my rock-climbing ability, and my passion for it. So, I made the choice to become what I’m known as today, an adventurer.
Who’s been your biggest inspiration? I started reading the books of famous climbers at 13, but my greatest hero was Paul Preuss — an Austrian Jew who was excluded from climbing clubs because of his religion, just before the First World War. He died on a climb in 1913, yet his philosophy — that climbers should rely solely on their own skill, judgment and respect for the mountain, without artificial aids — remains the foundation of mountaineering for me. His ideas were radical at the time, but they shaped the way I understood what pure alpinism could be.
Which places in the Dolomites are special to you? In my opinion, the Dolomites are the most beautiful mountains in the world; our klettersteige (via ferratas) are unlike anywhere else. I’ll always remember Alta Badia, where I completed the hardest climb of my life with my brother. It was incredibly dangerous — I risked everything. Below me was nothing but hundreds of feet of empty air. I managed to grab a tiny hole, just enough to pull myself up. In that moment, I was at the edge of my limits, adrenaline rushing. That’s when you know you’ve reached your maximum.
Are there any others that hold special meaning for you? The Matterhorn is one. Another is Machapuchare in Western Nepal, known as the ‘Fishtail Mountain’ and standing at nearly 23,000ft. To this day, it’s still unclimbed and it stirs strong emotions in me. For 20 years, I sought a permit from the Nepalese government, but it was never granted as the mountain is sacred to Hindus. I’m glad it remains untouched though. An unclimbed mountain holds a purer, more powerful presence than one that has been conquered.
Tell us about the new Reinhold Messner Haus. Why is it important to you? The museum isn’t about legacy or looking back at my career. It’s about necessity. We’re losing the ability to truly connect with nature. I learned the mental discipline of mountaineering from the older generation and from reading the classic books. But today, rock climbing has become an indoor sport — there’s no real tension between humans and nature. It’s even an Olympic event now, which is great, but it’s not mountaineering. The situation on Everest tells a similar story: trekkers are ferried to the summit by logistics, not skill. That’s trekking, not mountaineering. Today, anyone with money can reach Everest’s top. The Reinhold Messner Haus is my way of preserving the true spirit of mountaineering.
What’s your proudest achievement? Perhaps this house is the greatest gift I can offer the next generation. It’s a place of adventure, inspiration and storytelling. Young people need to get outside, be alone and learn to take responsibility in challenging situations. Adventure can’t exist without risk. It begins where safety ends. My challenge is to keep the spirit of traditional mountaineering alive. If we lose that, we lose not just a sport, but a way of understanding both ourselves and the natural world.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – EXPERIENCES COLLECTION 67
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