Reinhold Andreas Messner (German: [ˈʁaɪnhɔlt ˈmɛsnɐ]; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol.

Messner was born to a German-speaking family in St. Peter, Villnöß, near Brixen in South Tyrol, which is part of Italy.

His father Josef (1917–1985) was drafted to serve the German army and participated in World War II on the Russian front.

[8] Since the 1960s, Messner, inspired by Hermann Buhl, was one of the first and most enthusiastic supporters of alpine style mountaineering in the Himalayas, which consisted of climbing with very light equipment and a minimum of external help.

Messner considered the usual expedition style (which he dubbed "siege tactics") disrespectful toward nature and mountains.

[citation needed] A year later, he climbed the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses and ascended the Rocchetta Alta di Bosconero.

In 1970, Messner was invited to join a major Himalayan expedition that was going to attempt the unclimbed Rupal face of Nanga Parbat.

[citation needed] In the 1970s, Messner championed the cause for ascending Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, saying that he would do it "by fair means" or not at all.

[14] This was the first time anyone had been that high without supplemental oxygen and Messner and Habeler achieved what certain doctors, specialists, and mountaineers thought impossible.

From 1999 to 2004, he held political office as a Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green Party (Federazione dei Verdi).

By late afternoon, both had reached the summit of the mountain and had to pitch an emergency bivouac shelter without tent, sleeping bags and stoves because darkness was closing in.

In June 2005, after an unusual heat wave on the mountain, the body of his brother was recovered on the Diamir Face, which seems to support Messner's account of how Günther died.

[22][23] The drama was turned into a film Nanga Parbat (2010) by Joseph Vilsmaier, based on the memories of Reinhold Messner and without participation from the other former members of the expedition.

Initially Messner became lost on the way down, but later, heading into the storm, found his way back to the camp, where Horst Fankhauser and Andi Schlick were waiting for him and Jäger.

[24] Together with Peter Habeler, Messner made a second ascent of Gasherbrum I on 10 August 1975, becoming the first man ever to climb more than two eight-thousanders.

This was achieved as part of a double ascent where, for the first time, two eight-thousander peaks (Gasherbrum I and II) were climbed without returning to base camp.

[24] Filmmaker Werner Herzog accompanied the climbers along the 150-kilometre (93 mi) approach to base camp, interviewing them extensively about why they were making the climb, if they could say; they could not.

His documentary, The Dark Glow of the Mountains, with some footage the two climbers shot during the expedition on portable cameras, was released the following year.

On 8 May 1978, Messner and Habeler reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first men to climb it without using supplemental oxygen.

Headed by Messner, the small expedition consisted of six climbers: Italians Alessandro Gogna, Friedl Mutschlechner and Renato Casarotto; the Austrian, Robert Schauer; and Germans Michael Dacher, journalist, Jochen Hölzgen, and doctor Ursula Grether, who was injured during the approach and had to be carried to Askole by Messner and Mutschlechner.

On 12 July, Messner and Dacher reached the summit; then the weather deteriorated and attempts by other members of the party failed.

A year later, Messner, with Friedel Mutschlechner, Oswald Oelz, and Gerd Baur, set up a base camp on the north side.

On 28 May, Messner and Mutschlechner reached the summit in very bad weather; part of the climb involving ski mountaineering.

[24] After his ascent of Kangchenjunga, Mutschlechner flew back to Europe because his frostbite had to be treated and Messner needed rest.

During the ascent, Messner discovered the body of a previously missing Austrian mountaineer, whom he buried two years later at the G I – G II traverse.

During Messner and Kammerlander's ascent, the weather was bad and they had to be assisted by the other three expedition members during the descent due to heavy snowfall.

[27] In 1985 Richard Bass first postulated and achieved the mountaineering challenge Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks of each of the seven continents.

[28] As of 2021, Messner is the second highest record holder of "World's Firsts" (after Icelandic oceanic rower Fiann Paul, who has 13).

[citation needed] On 31 July 2009, he married his long time girlfriend Sabine Stehle, a textile designer from Vienna, with whom he has three children.

[38] In late May 2021, Messner married Diane Schumacher, a 41-year-old Luxembourgish woman living in Munich,[39][40] at the town hall in Kastelbell-Tschars near his home in South Tyrol.