Reinhold Messner and Nanga Parbat

Reinhold Messner (born September 17, 1944) is an Italian mountaineer and explorer from South Tyrol "whose astonishing feats on Everest and on peaks throughout the world have earned him the status of the greatest climber in history."[1] He is renowned for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and for being the first climber to ascend all fourteen "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level). He is the author of at least 63 books (in German, 1970–2006), many of which have been translated into other languages. Background of the movie In May and June 1970 Reinhold Messner took part in the Nanga Parbat South Face expedition led by Karl Herrligkoffer, the objective of which was to conquer the as yet unclimbed Rupal Face, the highest rock face in the world. His brother, Günther, was also a member of the team. On the morning of 27 June, Reinhold Messner was of the view that the weather would deteriorate rapidly, and set off alone from the last high-altitude camp. Surprisingly his brother climbed after him and caught him up before the summit. By late afternoon, both had reached the summit of the mountain and had to pitch an emergency bivouac without tent, sleeping bags and stoves because darkness was closing in. The events that followed have been the subject of years of legal actions and disputes between former expedition members, and have still not been finally resolved. What is known is that Reinhold Messner descended the Diamir Face, thereby achieving the first crossing of Nanga Parbat (and second crossing of an eight-thousander after Mount Everest in 1963). He arrived in the valley six days later with severe frostbite, but survived. His brother, Günther, however died on the Diamir Face - according to Reinhold Messner on the same descent, during which they became further and further separated from each other. As a result, the time, place and exact cause of death is unknown. Messner claimed his brother had been swept away by an avalanche. In the early years immediately after the expedition there were disputes and lawsuits between Reinhold Messner and the expedition leader, Karl-Maria Herrligkoffer. After a quarter-century of peace, the dispute flared up again in October 2001, when Reinhold Messner raised surprising allegations against the other members of the team for failing to come to their aid. The rest of the team consistently maintained that Reinhold Messner had told them of his idea for crossing the mountain before setting off for the summit. Messner himself asserts, however, that he made a spontaneous decision to descend the Diamir Face together with his brother for reasons of safety. A number of new books (Max von Kienlin, Hans Saler, Ralf-Peter Märtin, Reinhold Messner) stoked the dispute (with assumptions and personal attacks) and led to further court proceedings. In June 2005 after an unusual heat wave on the mountain, the body of his brother was recovered on the Diamir Face, which tended to confirm Messner's account of events Director: Joseph Vilsmaier Writers: Reinhard Klooss, Sven Severin Stars: Florian Stetter, Andreas Tobias and Karl Markovics The shooting in the mountain area was filmed with two 35mm cameras and one 70mm camera. See here for the Novamov link for the movie:-