Against the Wind

The "Mountain King" looks back on eight decades, summit controversies, and his lasting legacy of climbing for the experience and the journeyReinhold Messner is one of history’s greatest mountaineers, a man who pushed the frontier of what is possible for a whole generation of climbers and beyond. In his new memoir, Against the Wind, Messner looks back on a life of accomplishments and recounts some of the most important episodes after turning eighty in 2024.He also addresses darker times and infamous controversies--including being discredited as a young mountaineer, his divorce and remarriage, Guinness stripping him of his world records in 2023, the recent revisions to measurements of 8000-meter summits, and the discovery of his brother Gunther’s remains on Nanga Parbat.This new memoir is classic Messner--no apologies, no regrets, and no backing down.

Born in 1944 in Villnöss, South Tyrol, REINHOLD MESSNER is the most famous mountaineer and adventurer of our time. He has achieved roughly one hundred first ascents, climbed all fourteen eightthousanders, and crossed Antarctica, Greenland, and Tibet, and the Gobi and Takla Makan deserts. After serving as a member of the European Parliament, he now devotes much of his time and energy to his farm, the Messner Mountain Museum project, and his foundation, which supports mountain peoples and culture worldwide.