2012. 320 pp, color photos. The USA hardcover has gone out of print, so we started importing first UK editions for the first time in 2006! Messner has recently become embroiled in a controversy concerning his first expedition to Nanga Parbat, when his brother Gunther died. Two team members have recently accused Reinhold of negligence in his death, and this is Reinhold's answer, telling the story of the tragedy and his subsequent ascents of the peak. Trade paperback, New.
The legendary Messner writes about the most tragic event in his career!
Did Reinhold Messner sacrifice his brother to his ambition?
· The most personal book Messner has ever written
· More than 45,000 copies sold of the German edition
Reinhold Messner is famous for many firsts: First to climb all 14 8000 meter peaks; first (with Peter Habeler) to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen; first to solo Everest. None of these, however, equals the drama of his first 8000-meter peak, Nanga Parbat.
32 years later, Messner is still haunted by the events of June 1970. While others on the expedition retreated, Reinhold Messner went for the summit, leaving his brother, Günther, behind with the team photographer. Some hours later he found that Günther had followed him.The two reached the summit but Günther developed altitude sickness; he was incapable of descending the technically-challenging route they had taken in reaching the summit. They became separated during the descent via the Diamar Flank, and when Reinhold returned to where he had left Günther, his brother was gone.
At basecamp ugly accusations were exchanged between members of the expedition and a court battle followed in Germany. In this new book Reinhold Messner revisits this most painful period in his life, reviewing his own actions and accusing others for the way things turned out on Nanga Parbat.
