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Moments before a storm rolled in, Italian mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander charged up the blue alpine ice on the Northwest Face of 25,545-foot Annapurna to reach the summit ridge. The year was 1985 and the alpinists became the first to ever ascend the massive flank, let alone do it in alpine style and without supplemental oxygen. In reaching the top, Messner recorded another milestone: he became the first climber to reach the summit of all 14 mountains higher than 8,000 meters. It had taken him 16 years to climb them all.
Now, 38 years later, Messner has been stripped of his historic accolade. On September 26, the Guinness Book of World Records announced that it no longer recognized Messner as the first to climb all 14 8000ers. The company had followed the advice of German mountaineering consultant Eberhard Jurgalski, who has used GPS data and photographic records to argue that many mountaineers—including Messner—stopped short of reaching the actual highest points on some of these peaks. Jurgalski has been the leading chronicler of 8,000ers since he began work on the subject in 1981, but has never climbed any of the peaks himself. In 2022, his revised list discounted a number of mountaineers’ ascents, including Messner’s, and sent shockwaves through the high-altitude climbing community.
According to Jurgalski, Messner failed to reach the true summit on Annapurna, based on photographic evidence. The Annapurna summit ridge is long, and during some years it is tricky to identify the highest point, due to the way that snow stacks up on the rock.
Messner had a characteristically terse reaction to the decision. “The ridge leading to the summit is three kilometers long, Jurgalski simply confused the east summit with the main one… [Jurgalski is] someone in search of attention without having the slightest competence,” he told La Repubblica. Messner claimed he climbs for the experience and that “[his] alpinism knows no records.”
So what does it mean that this feat of alpinism that was so far ahead of its time is getting nullified on the official records? To some leaders of the sport, not much. According to the Guinness Book, American Ed Viesturs is the new record holder—he completed the 14 in 2005. But Viesturs, the first American to summit every 8,000er maintains that Messner’s achievements are still valid. “I truly believe that Reinhold Messner was the first person to climb all 14 8000ers and should still be recognized as having done so. He lead the way, not only in style, but also physically and psychologically, by climbing without supplemental oxygen. Other climbers, such as me, were able to follow in his footsteps by his inspiration,” said Viesturs.
Viesturs is not alone. In recent days other mountaineers have voiced their support of Messner. Graham Zimmerman, president of the American Alpine Club, said, “Give Messner the due he deserves—for me what is comes down to is in climbing there is a huge component of telling the truth.”
“If Guinness wants to move the goalposts that’s up to them but it’s causing unnecessary drama,” Zimmerman continued.
Freddie Wilkinson, an alpinist and guide who has written extensively about the 8,000-meter peaks, said, “I personally don’t recognize Guinness world records as having any sporting authority over alpine climbing.”
Zimmerman and Wilkinson are far more interested in these accolades than by guided speed records on high mountains. “There is unbelievable climbing going on in Pakistan, Nepal, and India that doesn’t involve helicopters and fixed lines—climbing by fair means,” says Zimmerman.
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