He might seem like a man with a heart of ice, and with his story it wouldn’t be strange: “Today I have no more emotions”. Yet that broken ice has brought another proof, after more than 50 years, that the greatest Italian mountaineer has always told the truth: Gunther in 1970 was hit by an avalanche. The two brothers had tackled the ascent of the untouched Rupal face of the ninth highest mountain in the world Nanga ParbatHimalayan massif, an eight thousand among the difficult in the world. Reinhold And Gunther they took part in an expedition, reached the summit on June 27 and the following day decided to descend the Diamir side. Gunther died and Reinhold arrived in the valley six days later, when he was now believed to be dead, with freezing feet and hands: “That was the most dramatic emotional experience of my life. That day I had to decide whether to leave everything, stay at home , be a surveyor or an architect. Or go back to adventure, without my toes anymore. And I decided to tell the story of the nature I faced and loved with Gunther “.
Reinhold was then accused of having abandoned his brother, he has always said that Gunther had been overwhelmed by snow and ice: “That was the most important moment in my history. I was heavily attacked. The German alpine clubs accused me of having abandoned my brother to save me and sometimes even I have doubted myself, I wondered if they were right, if my memories were conditioned. Instead, nature, which never lies, has given me back the truth “. A truth that in part had already emerged: in 2005 the body, or a part, of Gunther it was found together with the other boot: “I made peace with my heart 17 years ago. Now I have no more emotions. I just wait to understand how many kilometers of ice and mountains are missing to bring to light everything else”. The King of the eight thousand at the time had returned to Nanga Parbat to cremate the remains of his brother.
Now post a photo. And, with the image that can be seen on his Instagram profile, Reinhold Messner closes the story that hurt him most. “Now everything is even more real. This is only the second demonstration that what I have always said was true. But I have always been at peace, because I know I have told what happened. And my brothers know it too: this finding also gives them peace of mind. Piece by piece the story is reconstructed. There will always be someone who will not believe me, who will tell lies, who will remain a prisoner of his convictions. What happened today does not change history: the world is brutal, as the war in Ukraine demonstrates. The men will always say and do rubbish. ”