Reinhold Messner comes to the Kurhaus on a farewell tour to Bad Tölz
Created: 09/13/2022, 19:38
By: Franca Winkler
Ascent to Nanga Parba: at 8,125 meters, the ninth highest mountain on earth.
© Organizer/Reinhold Messner
Bad Tölz – During his farewell tour, mountain legend Reinhold Messner will also come to the Tölz Kurhaus on Wednesday, September 21 (7:30 p.m.).
There he shows his lecture "Nanga Parbat - my mountain of fate".
In the interview, the 77-year-old talks about highlights, controversial issues and dark moments in his life.
Mr. Messner, Bad Tölz is a "mountaineering town" with 19,000 inhabitants, the Alpine Club has 8,000 members here.
Have you ever climbed the Karwendel?
"I didn't climb in the Karwendel, my climbing home is the Dolomites.
But I hiked there, wanted to see the Lalidererwand and Dibona's masterpiece: a great route."
How did you get into mountaineering and what role did your parents play in it?
"With parents.
As a five-year-old I stood on the three-thousander Sass Rigais in the Geislerspitzen, then on the Peitlerkofel.
When I was twelve, I was climbing the Fermeda Towers solo.”
Reinhold Messner © Organizer
Extreme mountaineers often speak of an intoxicating feeling, of happiness and freedom, but also of fear, drive and drudgery.
What predominates?
"The flow state is a moment of happiness, the utmost concentration lets us climbers grow wings."
A recipe for success in mountaineering is: speed is safety.
You yourself have always preferred flexible small expeditions without a chain of camps and with little luggage.
“First of all, it's about the costs: Every expedition also had to be financed.
The Alpine Style costs a tenth of the Expedition Style.
Renunciation also means lightness, freedom, creativity.”
also read
Another motorcycle accident on Kesselberg: The biker (17) was lucky
Benediktbeurer Haslinger Sepp makes snow forecast for winter
At the summit you are not yet at your destination.
Most things happen on the descent – especially on the high mountains, when strength and concentration dwindle or the weather changes?
"Right!
Although the descent is much less strenuous.
But with alpine style, there is no backing, which can become a problem.”
Reinhold Messner soloing on the summit of Nanga Parbat in 1978. © Reinhold Messner
What does mountain camaraderie mean?
Are rope partners "best friends" - or is it more about communities of convenience to achieve ambitious goals?
"I've experienced everything, especially after successes on the mountain: camaraderie, friendship for life and underhandedness to the point of character assassination.
Climbers are people.”
How did this run on the 14 eight-thousanders actually come about?
A number of the high seven-thousanders - such as Rakaposhi or Masherbrum - are much more spectacular?
"They are even more difficult, but the 14 eight-thousanders are countable and bring prestige.
And this can be bought today in travel agencies.
This is how 8,000 tourism came about.”
The darkest hours of your mountaineering life may have been coming home from Nanga Parbat alone and without your brother.
How can you cope as a family, how can such wounds heal?
“We went to the Diamir Valley as a family in 2006 to say goodbye to our brother.
Unfortunately, the parents no longer lived there.
The conspiracy theorists have created a lot of suffering.”
Recently there was this debate as to whether you were actually standing on the highest point of Annapurna – or maybe just a few meters away on the ridge in the stormy fog. Does that annoy you?
"No.
There is ignorance and malice behind it.
But the gps apex nonsense is for sale with my name on it.
But every alpinist knows that nature is not a statistical variable.”
How is the situation at Manaslu?
Mountaineers report that the highest point often cannot be accessed at all due to the fragile interweaving of the exposed summit rocks.
“Every peak is different, and mountains are subject to weathering and storms, cornices breaking and permafrost receding.
The summit is already there several times at the Sassolungo.”
30 years ago, the high Alpine peaks were still sublime, majestically glowing ice bastions with fantastic firn flanks and cornice ridges.
Now they are being atrophied by climate change into desolate, collapsing heaps of rubble.
Is classic alpinism past its prime?
“Traditional mountaineering is becoming more dangerous because of global warming and other climate influences.
So you have to be even more careful.
The mountain has no intention, only humans make mistakes.”
You are almost 78 now and your extreme tours are history.
What is your priority now?
Is the museum project finished?
And what advice would you like to give to your audience?
“Even the museum remains a process.
It's part of my heritage, like the book 'Between Getting Through and Perishing'.
Farewell will be my final expedition.”
Nationalism, oppression of peoples, war and land grabs threaten peaceful coexistence.
South Tyrol also experienced bad times from the First World War to the Statute of Autonomy in 1972 and is today a place of prosperity and peace.
Could this be a model for others?
"We South Tyroleans are fortunate to have given up our national self-image in the last 100 years - a difficult time between annexation to Italy and local autonomy: We are South Tyroleans and Europeans, but not Italians, Austrians or Germans.
I also want to be a citizen of the world, with respect for all people – unfortunately, the latter is becoming increasingly difficult.”
Rainer Bannier conducted the interview.