“After every few steps, we huddle over our ice axes mouths agape, struggling for sufficient breath to keep our muscles going.... at a height of 8800 metres, we can no longer keep on our feet while we rest. We crumple to our knees, clutching our axes.... Every ten or fifteen steps we collapse into the snow to rest, then crawl on again.”

Italian climber, explorer, and author

Reinhold Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from South Tyrol, born in 1944. He is known for a series of landmark feats in high-altitude mountaineering and exploration. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen. He was also the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without supplementary oxygen. Beyond the mountains, he crossed Antarctica and Greenland without snowmobiles or dog sleds, and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone.