CLIMATE CHANGE SILVER LINING
Mystery over Italian climber's death in Himalayas solved as boot emerges from glacier 50 years later

10 Jun, 2022 


Nanga Parbat is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, at 8126m high. Photo/ Getty Images
Daily Telegraph UK
By Nick Squires


The discovery of a climber's boot that lay entombed in a Himalayan glacier for more than 50 years has laid to rest, once and for all, one of the most enduring controversies in the world of mountaineering.

The leather boot belonged to Guenther Messner, a young Italian climber who died on the ice-shrouded slopes of 8126m-high (26,660ft) Nanga Parbat in Pakistan in 1970.

He was the brother of Reinhold Messner, who went on to become one of the world's most celebrated alpinists and became the first person to climb Mt Everest without additional oxygen.

For decades there was speculation and rumour that Reinhold left his less-experienced brother to die on the mountain in a selfish push to win glory for himself by reaching the summit.

Two of the climbers on the expedition, Hans Saler and Max von Kienlin, wrote books in which they claimed Reinhold was so obsessed with conquering Nanga Parbat he abandoned his frostbitten and delirious brother.

Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner points to a photograph of Mount Everest after his unprecedented solo ascent without supplementary oxygen, 1980. Photo / Getty Images

Reinhold always denied the accusations, saying the pair had reached the summit of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak in the world, only for his 23-year-old brother to be tragically swept away in an avalanche during the descent.

Reinhold barely escaped with his life, staggering down the mountain, wandering for six days until he was rescued and losing several toes to frostbite.

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Now, 52 years on, the location of the boot appears to corroborate his insistence he did not abandon his younger brother.

The boot was found by local people at the foot of the mountain's western Diamir face – exactly where Reinhold said his brother had been swept to his death.

A photograph of the boot was posted by Reinhold Messner on Instagram, where he has more than 170,000 followers.

"This is further proof that I did not abandon Günther," he told Corriere della Sera newspaper. "People said I left him to die, sacrificing him for my own ambition. I'm at peace with myself, even if the accident changed my life."
Reinhold Messner is seen at the special exhibition at Messner Mountain Museum on July 15, 2020 in Bolzano, Italy. Photo / Getty Images

He recalled that bones belonging to his brother had been found in the same area in 2005, along with his other boot.

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DNA analysis by Austrian experts showed the bones belonged to Günther Messner.

"The remains were found on the slope which I had always said was the place where I saw him disappear."

There was no doubting the recently discovered boot also belonged to his brother because it had been specially made for the expedition, he said.

The discovery offered final vindication of his account of what happened to his brother on the frozen flanks of Nanga Parbat more than half a century ago, he said.

In a book he wrote in 2003, The Naked Mountain, Reinhold said as they descended the mountain, his brother was suffering from altitude sickness. He said after they became separated he made desperate attempts to locate Günther, but to no avail.

"The mountain never lies and, if there was still the need, the discovery of this boot definitively establishes the truth of my brother's death. This is incontrovertible proof that Günther disappeared during the descent, not during the ascent."

The unearthed boot belonged to Guenther Messner, who died on the slopes of Nanga Parbat in 1970. Photo / Instagram

He now wants the boot sent back to Italy, where it will go on display in one of the Messner Mountain Museums that he has established in his native South Tyrol, the German-speaking corner of northern Italy.

The fact he survived the treacherous conditions that carried away his brother was a miracle, he said.

"When they found me down in the valley I hadn't eaten for six days and I weighed 56kg. I cheated death."

A legend in the climbing community, Reinhold Messner was the first person to scale all 14 of the world's peaks that exceed 8000m (26,250 feet) in height.

A former member of the European Parliament, where he championed environmental issues, he has traversed Antarctica on foot via the South Pole and trekked solo across the Gobi Desert.