When I lost seven of my toes on Nanga Parbat and small parts of my fingertips I knew I'd never be a great rock climber. So I specialized in high-altitude climbing. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
I am not made for lonely expeditions. In the sixties, I climbed during the day so I wouldn't have to be alone. I finally learned to stay up for weeks in the high altitude all by my own without being… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Fame is very heavy. When there are large crowds, I'm unable to handle it. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
The cliches that circulate in the German media about Joachim Sauer are a total fallacy. The fact is that he's his own man. He's… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Climbing is not a competition, and you cannot talk in terms of 'greatest,' it means nothing. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Life is about daring to carry out your ideas. And for me, it always comes back to the wilderness, nature, mountains. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
I have a very different fear if I'm all alone in the summit area of Mount Everest and if I know that there is… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
For years I was a rock climber and nothing else. I went to school, yes, and university, yes, but in my heart I was… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
An account of an expedition is not a novel. Therefore an authentic account can never be given, let alone written down by someone who… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Ueli Steck, I'm absolutely certain, had a very strong inner drive to keep pushing. He set very high standards for himself. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
I can't tell people to love mountains. They have to find their own way. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
...seen from above, landscapes are made up of mountains and watercourses. Just as a transparent model of the human body consists of a framework… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Out of all the climbers of this generation, I was the one who became known to the larger public. Many of them - not… — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
Mountaineering is over. Alpinism is dead. Maybe its spirit is still alive a little in Britain and America, but it will soon die out. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
The Dolomites are the most beautiful rock mountains in the world, but in a few million years they will just be desert. — Reinhold Messner Copy Share Image
