Moments before a storm rolled in, Italian mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander charged up the blue alpine ice on the Northwest Face of 25,545-foot Annapurna to reach the summit ridge. The year was 1985 and the alpinists became the first to ever ascend the massive flank, let alone do it in alpine style and without supplemental oxygen. In reaching the top, Messner recorded another milestone: he became the first climber to reach the summit of all 14 mountains higher than 8,000 meters. It had taken him 16 years to climb them all.
Now, 38 years later, Messner has been stripped of his historic accolade. On September 26, the Guinness Book of World Records announced that it no longer recognized Messner as the first to climb all 14 8000ers. The company had followed the advice of German mountaineering consultant Eberhard Jurgalski, who has used GPS data and photographic records to argue that many mountaineers—including Messner—stopped short of reaching the actual highest points on some of these peaks. Jurgalski has been the leading chronicler of 8,000ers since he began work on the subject in 1981, but has never climbed any of the peaks himself. In 2022, his revised list discounted a number of mountaineers’ ascents, including Messner’s, and sent shockwaves through the high-altitude climbing community.
According to Jurgalski, Messner failed to reach the true summit on Annapurna, based on photographic evidence. The Annapurna summit ridge is long, and during some years it is tricky to identify the highest point, due to the way that snow stacks up on the rock.
Messner had a characteristically terse reaction to the decision. “The ridge leading to the summit is three kilometers long, Jurgalski simply confused the east summit with the main one… [Jurgalski is] someone in search of attention without having the slightest competence,” he told La Repubblica. Messner claimed he climbs for the experience and that “[his] alpinism knows no records.”
So what does it mean that this feat of alpinism that was so far ahead of its time is getting nullified on the official records? To some leaders of the sport, not much. According to the Guinness Book, American Ed Viesturs is the new record holder—he completed the 14 in 2005. But Viesturs, the first American to summit every 8,000er maintains that Messner’s achievements are still valid. “I truly believe that Reinhold Messner was the first person to climb all 14 8000ers and should still be recognized as having done so. He lead the way, not only in style, but also physically and psychologically, by climbing without supplemental oxygen. Other climbers, such as me, were able to follow in his footsteps by his inspiration,” said Viesturs.
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Viesturs is not alone. In recent days other mountaineers have voiced their support of Messner. Graham Zimmerman, president of the American Alpine Club, said, “Give Messner the due he deserves—for me what is comes down to is in climbing there is a huge component of telling the truth.”
“If Guinness wants to move the goalposts that’s up to them but it’s causing unnecessary drama,” Zimmerman continued. Freddie Wilkinson, an alpinist and guide who has written extensively about the 8,000-meter peaks, said, “I personally don’t recognize Guinness world records as having any sporting authority over alpine climbing.”
As a climber with experience on alpine ascents in the U.S. (but no Himalayan bona fides), and a longtime follower of the sport, I agree with Zimmerman and Wilkinson. I care far more for a good-faith attempt to find the summit of a given peak than the GPS coordinates that prove it. And I find bold new routes by masters of their craft are much more compelling than sloppy speed records that rely on fixed ropes, hired guides, and helicopters. Taking Messner’s record away only serves to glorify outcomes instead of the process. Doing so emboldens cheap record chasing and corner cutting over ascents done in good style.
Zimmerman and Wilkinson told me that they are also far more interested in these accolades than by guided speed records on high mountains. “There is unbelievable climbing going on in Pakistan, Nepal, and India that doesn’t involve helicopters and fixed lines—climbing by fair means,” says Zimmerman. Wilkinson puts it more bluntly. He has disdain for the modern practice of linking 8,000ers just to get your name on a plaque. “In the Himalayas when you’re mixing summits, it transcends athletic sport because of the extreme carbon emissions required to do it. Your speed record just depends on how good your helicopter pilot is,” says Wilkinson.
Many American climbers are fascinated by minimal climbing style. We have a quote from the early 70s in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison: you climb with “a rope, a rack, and the shirt on your back.” Maybe it’s because of our problematic history with rugged individualism, but for me, true alpinism is the pinnacle of style.
Alpine style, pioneered on high-altitude peaks by the likes of Messner, is the antithesis of the conga line and crowding that now occur every year on Mount Everest and other 8000ers. It’s a fast-and-light style of climbing that doesn’t rely on an army of Sherpa guides, and takes advantage of favorable weather to make smash-and-grab summit attempts. This style of climbing can be risky, as carrying lightweight and minimal equipment can hinder climbers’ abilities to survive unanticipated challenges. Messner’s climb of 26,510-foot Hidden Peak in 1975 with Peter Habeler was the first successful ascent of an 8,000er in alpine style.
Climbers in the 70s and 80s were using the best tools available to them to determine high points. “In climbing, our ethic depends on telling the truth about our achievements,” said Zimmerman, who has climbed on K2, Broad Peak, and multiple 7,000 meter peaks in Pakistan.
“The style is definitely going toward having a lot more volunteer judges,” says Wilkinson. “There’s a higher standard for verifying ascents. Hopefully that’s a good thing—we can measure the adventure and stay honest.” But Wilkinson allows that a lot of “sketchy shit” happens on these high peaks. Climbers’ risk tolerances while climbing solo in a whiteout will differ from their imagined summit while sitting in a tent in base camp.
Messner and Kammerlander reached the Annapurna summit ridge in a fashion never before achieved, and their rapid decision making allowed them to top out and descend in gale-force winds and snow that threw the face into winter conditions with little notice. The partners got home safe.
While the record may not matter to Messner, the Guinness Book carries plenty of importance in Nepal, where Sherpa guides and outfitters promote recognized records to climbing clients. “Do I care that Reinhold Messner doesn’t have a record owned by a beer company? Not really,” says Zimmerman. “Do I think that locals should leverage these certificates to create prosperity? Absolutely.”
The 8,000ers still hold challenges yet to be met. There are still routes off the beaten path to open and records to chase. But the speed records getting smashed year over year by climbers getting flown around in helicopters are not rooted in the same spirit of climbing that made Messner a legend of the sport. There is a huge difference between the kind of speed records set by Nirmal Purja and Kristin Harila that are borne of logistical mastery and a dependence on infrastructure put in by locals, and records like last year’s FKT on the Slovak Direct on Denali. That speed record came from utter mastery of climbing.
Perhaps what is needed is a reckoning with our new technological means. We have new tools to better assess information and as such we should have new records. The first person who stands on all 14 GPS dots can have their new record. But revoking the accomplishments of one of the progenitors of artful climbing in the world’s greatest range is wandering into a quagmire. Let the old records stand and welcome the new.