The Son of the Mountains: The Story of Messner and the Fourteen Highest Peaks in the World
Image source: Grant Dixon
What is beyond that mountain?
Image source:
Childhood memories on the rocks.
I was born in South Tyrol, northern Italy, a place surrounded by mountains. I grew up in a family with nine children and my father was a rural teacher and an avid mountaineer. He was also my first climbing instructor in life.
was when I was five years old
There were four of us
Father, mother, brother and me
We climbed Sass Rigais.
and then we started climbing up.
I remember that climb wasn't difficult.
After reaching the mountain top,
overlooking the 600-meter-long rock wall to the north,
I felt it sparked my passion for rock climbing
because I could see the world beyond the valley.
As they say, there are always higher mountains beyond. The world suddenly seems much bigger. Curiosity drives me to ask, "What lies beyond that mountain?"
Father's trust
Around the age of 12, my father and I climbed up the east peak of Kleine Fermeda. This was my first real rock climbing experience. The mountain was not very steep, but at that time, it felt like almost a vertical cliff to me.
Messner (left) with his younger brother and father (right)
Unstoppable Challenge
When I was studying civil engineering at the University of Padova, I was actually quite unhappy. I felt like I wasn't living a true life, despite my efforts to complete the engineering courses. It was just me forcing myself to do things that I didn't really want to do.
In the last few years of school, I have become increasingly aware that the knowledge I need to learn is not in the library, to become a professor, or in university. It is in the experiences of real life.
Famous Austrian mountaineer Hermann Buhl became the first person to solo climb Nanga Parbat in 1953, without the use of supplemental oxygen. In one of his books, Buhl mentioned that it was believed impossible for anyone to climb the Rupal face of the mountain's south side. However, this challenge became irresistible to him.
At 29 years old, Hermann Buhl summited the South Summit of Nanga Parbat.
Forever lost
Before departing from the campsite, due to the bad weather conditions, I decided to climb alone, while leaving my younger brother and the photographer at the camp to wait for me. At three o'clock in the morning the next day, I packed some clothes, spare gloves, and a small tube of vitamin pills, and set off.
After climbing for a while, suddenly my little brother appeared in my sight. It turned out he had quietly followed up from behind. He wanted to prove that he was also capable of climbing up. But his presence broke my concentration. As his older brother, I need to be responsible for his safety.
Messner and his brother Günther's journey to Mount Nanga Parbat
After staying at the top for an hour
We started our descent
However
My younger brother kept stopping to rest along the way
When we reached the steep slope to the south
He said
"I can't go down, I can't do it, it's too dangerous"
Trying to return from the original Rupal face
But it wasn't until the next day at dawn
That we discovered the slope was actually
A vertical ice face
Like standing on the edge of a tall building roof
We couldn't possibly descend.
The cold air is piercing,
My toes are already numb.
We start shouting for help,
Until at last we see some figures,
It's our expedition companions.
I try to signal for them to come over,
All they need to do is to come here
And give us a rope.
And I just realized
Günther is gone forever
The loss of my brother is a huge trauma
That made me realize that coming out alive is the most important thing
And now, being able to survive
It is also my greatest achievement.
14 peaks over 8,000 meters
Severe frostbite
Cut off seven of my toes
The doctor said I can't climb again
Indeed, my old climbing style is no longer applicable
Luckily
I found high-altitude climbing
Summiting Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen in 1978.
After three consecutive days of climbing,
I had never felt as exhausted as I did that day
At the summit of Mount Everest.
I just sat there,
Unable to feel anything around me,
I knew I was completely drained.
I tell myself during an adventure
"this is enough"
but after a few weeks
when the hardships and worries of that time are forgotten
I start imagining the next climbing plan
and soon set off.
Mount Kilimanjaro (highest peak in Africa)
Crossing
No one has ever hiked across the Antarctic continent.
No one has crossed the entire Greenland island from north to south.
No one has even considered hiking across the 2000-kilometer Gobi Desert.
I think I can give it a try.
Walking can clear my mind
Purify my thoughts
I can see myself and the world more clearly
I feel connected to the world.
Zanba and beef jerky
When I first arrived in Tibet
It felt like another world
The air there is clean and pure
No vibrant colors
Only soft tones.
Messner in front of the fluttering prayer flags at the Firmian Museum.
In 1986,
I carried a whole bag
of food, first aid equipment, and clothes
starting my journey in eastern Tibet.
When I saw a group of Tibetan nomads
moving with their yaks,
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Even though communication was difficult,
the first thing they did
was throw my backpack onto the yak.
During those days, I always had meals and tea with them. I ate dried yak meat (ཤ་སྐམ་པོ། Sha kampo), tsampa (རྩམ་པ། zampa), a type of barley flour mixed with yak butter and tea. It was really delicious.
Footprints of the snow monster
Once again in the wilderness of eastern Tibet
I wasn't sure which path to take
The locals pointed me towards the west
I followed a river into the mountains
After walking for hours
The sky was getting dark
I noticed some footprints
In 1951, mountaineer Eric Shipton took a photo of "Yeti" footprints at the base of Mount Everest.
I eventually walked out of the forest and for the first time I heard from the locals that there is indeed a creature like a snow monster there, which they call "Chemo."
Invisible companions
In 1999, I was running for European Parliament as I imagined the scene of George Mallory, the Everest hero who had passed away 75 years ago, trying to summit on June 8, 1924. The photos of his body finally being discovered brought me back to that moment, making it feel so real as if I had personally been there myself.
Malory joined the Mount Everest expedition team in 1921.
Image source: AFR Wollaston/Royal Geographical Society/Getty Images
my mother used to read me stories by the oil lamp
about Mallory, the first man to attempt Mount Everest
He was a pioneer, a legendary figure
This was my first climbing story.
Image source: 1stdibs
From then on,
Malory's story was imprinted in my subconscious.
Later, as I climbed Mount Everest alone,
he became an invisible companion to me.
Image source: 1stdibs
Marlowe's story
is a legend about the unclimbed Everest
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
were the first people to climb Everest
but they were not climbing the same mountain as Marlowe.
Image source: 1stdibs
Mesna Mountain Museum
I started in 2006
In the northern Alps region of Italy
Created six mountain-themed museums
Dolomites Museum
Now
I feel it's time to place everything I know
And everything I don't know
In a museum
And express myself in this way.
Messner Mountain Museum Firmian
I am more interested in human nature than the mountains themselves. What I am primarily concerned with is the change that occurs within a person when they encounter a mountain. When someone experiences rock climbing, they will undoubtedly return as a different person. We do not change the mountains by climbing them, but rather change ourselves.
For me,
"success" is not at the end of life
When you focus on doing something
That is a successful life
My success
My life
Is simply turning ideas into reality.
My achievement and happiness do not depend on applause or any form of praise, but on my ability to do what I want to do and persevere. Perhaps the true purpose of life is to do our best to express ourselves.
