'Messner 8,000m king', backtracks Jurgalski

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 13 - German mountaineering reporterEberhard Jurgalski on Friday backtracked on a claim that Italianmountaineer Reinhold Messner failed to reach the summit ofAnnapurna in 1985, a claim that had led Guinness World Recordsto strip the legendary South Tyrolean climber of his record asthe first person to climb the world's 14 mountains over 8,000 m.
   The Guinness World Records website now names the American EdmundViesturs as the first person to have climbed all 14 8,000 mmountains between 1989 and 2005, making specific reference toJurgalski's claims regarding Messner's former record.
   In a sensational U-Turn, the German expert now says a 'tolerancezone' of 190 metres is justified in the vicinity of certainpeaks, such as Annapurna, which has an interminable ridge to thesummit, and for this reason, the record belongs to Messner"forever".
   In his previous claim, Jurgalski said Messner in the company ofHans Kammerlander missed the summit of Nepalese peak Annapurnaby a few metres.
   After Messner's removal from the Guinness Book of Records,Jurgalski was inundated with criticism from the mountaineeringworld and the 79-year-old's fans.
    Messner last Monday described as "nonsense" the records bookmove and Jurgalski's claim.
   "It's nonsense", the mountain man from Funes in Italy's AlpineAlto Adige region told ANSA.
   "First of all, I have never claimed any records, so they cannotdisown me," he said.
   "Also, mountains change. Almost 40 years have passed, if someonehas climbed Annapurna it was certainly Hans and I," addedMessner.
   "No one who knows anything about mountaineering would questionour feat, Jurgalski in fact knows nothing about it," continuedMessner.
   "Mountains change, like everything in nature. Especially onAnnapurna, all it takes is for the snow cornice to collapse andthe summit drops five metres," he added.
   "The ridge leading to the summit is 3 km long, Jurgalski hassimply confused the east summit with the main summit. Heresomeone obviously wants to be noticed without having theslightest competence," insisted Messner.
   "This is how you destroy mountaineering," Messner's climbingpartner Kammerlander in the 1985 Annapurna ascent told ANSA,describing the debate as "ridiculous".
   "Of course there is no absolute certainty, those were othertimes, without gps. At those altitudes all it takes is asnowstorm and dim sunlight," said the 66-year-old, also fromAlto Adige.
   "We are still convinced that we were reached the summit, but whoknows if there were another 5-6 metres to climb behind the rock.
   That would still not detract from our achievement," hecontinued.
   "Humanity really is getting worse," he concluded.
   One of Italy's most illustrious extreme mountaineers, Messnermade the first solo ascent of Mt Everest without bottled oxygenin 1980.
   Since then he has gone on to break numerous other records andinspired generations of mountain climbers.
   He has also given his name to a network of Mountain Museums inAlto Adige. (ANSA).