Posted: Sep 08, 2005 05:41 am EDT
Scattered pieces of information keep on adding to the jigsaw-puzzle of the Günther Messner mystery. The latest pieces to add to this puzzle have been published by the German magazine Der Spiegel. According to Der Spiegel in its online version, quoting Reinhold Messner himself, samples of the body reportedly found at the base of Nanga Parbat’s Diamir side have been sent to Munich, Germany, and somewhere in Austria in order to perform DNA tests.

Unnecessary tests, states Messner

“We don’t need those tests, but we will do them anyway,” Messner reportedly told journalists in Pakistan. Reinhold has identified the remains without any doubt as his brother Günther’s, who died on the mountain 35 years ago.

“The remains were found at 4300m, half an hour walking away from Nanga Parbat’s Diamir side BC. The remains show no sign of suffering a fall – it is clear that my brother was buried by an avalanche.”

Waiting for images

No images where provided to support Reinhold’ s conclusions though. Messner held a press conference in Islamabad last Sunday – the only proof of his claims being a leather boot presumably belonging to Günther, and reportedly found along with some human remains at the location near Nanga Parbat.

Moreover, media have reported the remains have been cremated on the spot and the ashes scattered over the Himalayan mountains by Reinhold Messner – as a funeral ritual.

A victim of the holocaust?

In contrast to the remarkable lack of facts on the findings and the identification of the body, Reinhold Messner is otherwise extremely talkative when it comes to hit back at his critics – mainly, his ex-teammates from the 1970 expedition. “What they’ve done to me, it is just like what the Germans did to the Jews during II World War,” he told Austrian ‘News’ magazine.

"They cornered me and accused me of being a brother-murderer, someone who sacrificed his brother for the sake of his own ambition. They said I sent Günther back through our ascent route whilst I traversed through a different side.”

I accuse

“These Schafsköpfe (literally, sheep-heads) who made such statements have proved to be miserable cheaters, liars and criminals – since false accusations of murder is a crime.“

About his personal feelings, Messner conceded he felt “no moral remorse, but a feeling of emotional guilt. I feel guilty of having survived (whilst my brother died) - it seems unfair to me. It can be compared to the remorse suffered by the Jews who survived the Holocaust: Why did I survive this pure hell – they ask themselves –while millions died under dreadful circumstances?”

We’re missing the point here

The fact is, Mr. Messner and his ex-teammates accusations of each other are not new. If he can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that he has found his brother’s remains at the Diamir glacier, it would be confirmed that Günther started descending from the summit through the Diamir Side of Nanga – thus making clear that Messner didn’t send his younger brother back through the Rupal face, which they had previously climbed. And that should be the end of it. The rest of the story: Exactly how, where, and when Günther died, will remain obscure – just like the deaths of thousands of climbers on the highest peaks on Earth.

The point here now is, Mr. Messner has claimed having found his brother’s body: Those claims should be supported in a detailed and transparent way. And to present, the current process is very far from detailed or transparent.

What if the body is not Günther’s?

Moreover, sources have reported on at least one other body spotted at the glacier exactly the same day Messner reported Günther’s remains were found. In fact, all information to date points out that the ‘second’ body was found by the same person. The ‘second body’ found is clearly belonging to a climber outfitted with clothing from the 80’s or 90’s – it is crucial to make clear that this unidentified body has not been mistaken with Günther’s.

ExplorersWeb has asked Mr. Messner’s office for complete details and graphic evidence on the findings and the research being done to properly identify the remains. Still no reply.

Background information on the 1970 Nanga expedition and controversy:

On June 27, 1970, Reinhold Messner and his brother Günther accomplished one of the boldest feats in mountaineering history when they made the first ascent of the Rupal Face -- the world’s highest rock wall -- and reached the summit of Nanga Parbat. It was their first attempt on an 8,000m peak. It would also be Günther’s last.

In Reinhold’s account, it was a combination of the weather, the hour, Günther's exhaustion, and having no ropes to descend back down the wall safely, that led the brothers to opt for descent down the less steep, but unknown Diamir face on the west side of the mountain. In a grueling two days that left both near total collapse, Reinhold went ahead to scout a route through the crevasses. He returned for Günther, only to find his brother had disappeared under an avalanche. Günther was never seen again.

Over the years, Reinhold has returned to Nanga Parbat six times - sometimes to look for signs of his brother, other times to climb. Messner wants to put to rest the question of his credibility, raised in recent years by fellow expedition members from the 1970 expedition.

Like Reinhold, Max-Engelhardt von Kienlin and Hans Saler have written their own books about the 1970 Nanga Parbat expedition to “set the record straight.” They make strong claims that Messner abandoned Günther (on the Rupal face) for his own ambition and concocted the avalanche story to hide his guilt.

If found, the location of Günther Messner's remains would prove a vital key. A finding at the Rupal face would support Messner's critics - a finding at the Diamir face would support (and exonerate) Messner.

Background information on the latest findings:

Reinhold Messner claims to have found his brother's remains at the base of Nanga Parbat. In a press release held in Islamabaad on Sunday September 4th, Reinhold presented a leather boot as 'definitive proof', but no graphic evidence of where or when the boot was found was given.

The official press release stated: “Mr. Messner announced that remains of his brother were found in the lower parts of Diamir glacier by locals (...) who preserved the bones of his brother along with high altitude shoes and informed Messner about the find. Now after examining the climbing boots and the parka jacket, he was able to recognize them as his brother’s.”

Sources who also saw a body at the base this summer (or what’s left of it; bones and remains of clothing) have told ExWeb that one plastic boot was found by the body, whilst Günther apparently was wearing leather boots when he disappeared on the mountain. The remains wore a jacket suggesting the climber died during the 80’s or 90’s, the bones suggest Asian origin, possibly corresponding to three Korean climbers reported missing on the Diamir side of the mountain since 1980.

After learning of the second findings, ExplorersWeb have contacted (and await a reply from) Hushe Treks, whose staff found the body reportedly identified as Günther Messner’s, asd well as Mr. Messner's office.

Are there several bodies found? When and where? A scientific study is needed to show the remains belong to Günther. Not to settle an argument, but more importantly - if the body is not Günther's, it belongs to somebody else's family.

Occasionally, Nanga Parbat’s glaciers spit out the remains of past expeditions: Ragged clothes, old gear, and even human remains are commonly found at the mountain’s base. More than 60 people have died on Nanga Parbat since the first attempts. In fact, 31 of them perished before Hermann Buhl summited the peak for the first time. The Naked Goddess has earned her nick-name ‘Killer Mountain’.

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