Reinhold Messner refutes rumors with his late brother’s shoe Biden wants to close research gaps in women’s health

The torn climbing boot belonged to Reinhold Messner’s brother Günther. It was found in the Himalayas almost two years ago. Reinhold Messner, now 79 years old, descended the Nanga Parbat mountain (8,125 meters high) on June 29, 1970 together with his then 24-year-old brother Günther. Günther Messner showed signs of altitude sickness and died in an ice avalanche.

The shoe discovery moves the mountaineer

Reinhold Messner published the shoe discovery on Instagram. In the video, the 79-year-old takes the shoe from a plastic bag and is visibly moved. Pakistani mountaineer Liver Khan brought him the shoe because Messner had not been able to travel to Pakistan himself. “Today Günther’s second shoe finally arrived from Pakistan,” the 79-year-old wrote in an Instagram post.

Several discoveries of the dead mountaineer have been made in the western Himalayas over the past two decades. First, several bones were discovered in 2004 at an altitude of 4,300 meters, which were later cremated and scattered on the mountain.

The glacier is moving, the shoes have been found

In 2005, the first mountain boot was discovered, custom-made for the expedition. It is now located in a kind of chapel in the museum at Sigmundskron Castle near Bolzano in Italy. The locals have secured the second shoe on the Diamir Glacier in 2022. Reinhold Messner only received a photo at the time and actually wanted to take the second shoe home himself. But nothing came of it.

Almost twenty years ago, a heated argument broke out between Messner and ex-comrades about the circumstances of Günther Messner’s death, which was also fought out in court. It was about help not provided and the question of where and how Messner’s brother actually died. Messner had always emphasized that he wanted to get his brother safely to the valley. After reaching the top, he and his brother descended to the other side of the mountain out of necessity.

The South Tyrolean repeatedly emphasized that the places where bones and the first shoe were discovered would prove this. The second shoe was found not far from the scene of the incident, as can be heard in the Instagram video. Glaciers are constantly moving and moving downhill over time. The location of the second shoe finally disproves conspiracy theories about Günther and the Nanga Parbat tragedy, Messner said.

Why the circumstances surrounding Günther Messner’s death were controversial

On June 27, 1970, Reinhold Messner left the last camp of the expedition at night to go solo on the Rupalwand. Shortly afterwards, his brother Günther spontaneously decided to follow Reinhold and climbed up alone. This decision was very risky because he had neither bivouac equipment nor enough warm clothing and food. Günther caught up with his brother. According to his brother, Günther Messner soon began to show signs of altitude sickness and exhaustion as a result of the extremely high rate of ascent. They reached the summit together in the late afternoon.

Reinhold Messner subsequently reported that the two brothers had to spend the night in the Merkl-Scharte, not far from the summit, because a night descent over the Rupalwand seemed impossible due to Günther’s exhaustion and altitude sickness. Although other mountaineers from the expedition later found themselves within shouting distance, no assistance could be organized. Reinhold Messner, who was still relatively strong, decided to descend the slightly easier but unknown Diamirwand to get Günther to the lower heights as quickly as possible. This multi-day descent pushed both mountaineers to the limits of their strength. Reinhold lost contact with Günther towards the end of the descent on June 29, 1970. He suspects that Günther was buried by an avalanche. After a few more days, Reinhold Messner managed to return to civilization.

During a dispute in 2001, Reinhold Messner accused the expedition of failing to provide assistance in connection with Günther Messner’s death. Subsequently, other expedition participants claimed that Reinhold Messner may have been separated from his brother near the summit. He then descended alone via the Diamir side, while Günther Messner returned alone to the Rupal side and died in the process.