Reinhold MessnerReinhold Messner is one of the world’s greatest mountaineers. He was the first person to climb the world’s fourteen 8,000-metre peaks, made the first ascent of Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen and has made over 3,000 climbs on the world’s muntains. He has crossed the Antarctic, Greenland and Tibet, as well as the Gobi and Takla Makan deserts. Born in 1944, Messner grew up in the Italian Dolomites. He climbed his first mountain at the age of five, with his father, and rapidly became one of Europe’s top mountaineers. A great proponent of Alpine-style climbing, Messner has always chosen to climb ‘by fair means’, preferring small teams and limiting his use of artificial tools so as to experience nature as he finds it. A writer and photographer as well as a mountaineer, Messner has written over fifty books on climbing and the mountains, which have been translated across the globe and won numerous awards. He was a Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green Party from 1999 to 2004 and now lives in a castle in northern Italy, dedicating his time to his Messner Mountain Museum – five interrelated museums in the South Tyrol dedicated to the art, culture, and peculiarities of mountain regions. He has founded the Messner Mountain Foundation (MMF) in order to support mountain people worldwide. Read More Read Less