Reinhold Messner, left, was the first climber to conquer all the world’s 14 peaks taller than 8,000 metres, but his record has now been disputed by map expert Eberhard Jurgalski, centre (Picture: Getty Images / DPA / PA)
A legendary mountaineer is furious after he was stripped of his two Guinness World Records.
Reinhold Messner, from South Tyrol in Italy, was the first climber to conquer all the world’s 14 peaks taller than 8,000 metres – known as the Eight Thousanders – 37 years ago.
Now 79, he also did this without the use of oxygen tanks, and is considered one of the greatest mountaineers of all time.
But last week Guinness World Records reclassified the mountains after it was revealed the exact summits of the Eight Thousanders had not been correctly identified for many years – as many of them have several peaks.
Map expert Eberhard Jurgalski, from Loerrach in Germany, worked for a decade alongside his team at 8000ers.com re-investigating the record-breaking climbs.
As a result he claimed Mr Messner miscalculated the summit of Annapurna mountain in Nepal in 1985 and missed it by just five metres, turning back too early.
He worked this out because Mr Messner’s climbing note said he could see base camp from the summit – but it was concluded this was impossible.
Mr Messner, from South Tyrol in Italy, broke the world record 37 years ago (Picture: Getty Images)
It has now been claimed Mr Messner miscalculated the summit of Annapurna mountain, in Nepal, in 1985 and missed it by just five metres (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
Guinness World Records has now specified that the highest reachable point – known as the ‘true summit’ – must be now be attained and proved going forward, off the back of this research.
Editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said: ‘The Guinness World Records titles affected by this reclassification of “true summits” have necessarily had to be reset in order to reflect the base-camp-to-summit requirements.
‘This should in no way detract from the incredible pioneering achievements made by some of the most significant mountaineers over the past 50 years.
‘However, in the same way that we require marathon runners to finish the full 42.195km (26.219 mile) course and circumnavigaters to cover at least the 40,075km (24,900 mile) circumference of the Earth, for a mountain climb to qualify for a Guinness World Records title, we must insist on a base-camp-to-true-summit ascent, as per the updated 8000ers.com guidelines.’
Mr Messner is now listed as a ‘legacy’ record holder, and American climber Edmund Viesturs, 64, has taken the title after completing the climbs in 2005.
Mr Messner, pictured in the 1990s, is considered one of the greatest mountaineers of all time (Picture: Mondadori via Getty Images)
Mr Jurgalski worked for a decade alongside his team at 8000ers.com re-investigating the record-breaking climbs (Picture: DPA / PA)
The publication added: ‘Many climbers – usually through no fault of their own – stopped before reaching the summit.’
But Mr Messner has hit back, telling the German Press Association: ‘He [Mr Jurgalski] has no idea. He is not an expert.
‘He just confused the mountain. Of course, we arrived at the summit.
‘I don’t care if my name is in the Guinness Book. You can’t take away a record that I’ve never claimed.
‘Also, mountains change. Almost 40 years have passed, if someone has climbed Annapurna it was certainly Hans and I.
‘No one who knows anything about mountaineering would question our feat… Mr Jurgalski in fact knows nothing about it.’
Mr Jurgalski has been studying the accounts of climbers against satellite and photographic data for 10 years, and discovered the summits had been miscalculated at three of the tallest peaks in the world – Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri I and Manaslu.
The true number of people who have successfully climbed all 14 Eight Thousanders is now thought to be just four, rather than 44.
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