Messner slams Guinness move on 8,000m record as 'nonsense'

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 25 - Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner on Monday described as "nonsense" the move by Guinness World Records to strip him of his record as the first person to climb the world's 14 mountains over 8,000 m.
    The decision came after German mountaineering reporter Eberhard Jurgalski claimed Messner and Hans Kammerlander failed to reach the summit of Annapurna, in Nepal, in 1985.
    It's "Nonsense", the 79-year-old from Funes in Italy's Alpine Alto Adige region told ANSA.
    "First of all, I have never claimed any records, so they cannot disown me," he said.
    "Also, mountains change. Almost 40 years have passed, if someone has climbed Annapurna it was certainly Hans and I," added Messner.
    One of Italy's most illustrious extreme mountaineers, Messner made the first solo ascent of Mt Everest without bottled oxygen in 1980.
    Since then he has gone on to break numerous other records and inspired generations of mountain climbers.
    He has also given his name to a network of Mountain Museums in Alto Adige. (ANSA).