Mountaineer Edmund Viesturs on
Wednesday renounced the record attributed to him recently by
Guinness World Records as the first person to climb the world's
14 mountains over 8,000 m.
"I am firmly convinced that Reinhold Messner was the first to
climb all 14 eight-thousanders and that this should be
recognised," said the American after the Guinness World Records
decided to strip Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner of the
title following claims he had failed to reach the summit of
Annapurna, in Nepal, in 1985.
"Messner and the other mountaineers did everything they could to
climb the real peaks, to the best of their knowledge and in the
conditions they found on site," added the 64-year-old.
Viesturs said Messner was "our forerunner, not only
stylistically, but also physically and psychologically, climbing
without supplementary oxygen".
"Other climbers like me were able to follow in his footsteps by
drawing inspiration from him," he continued, adding that
"climbing is a personal journey and should not be about lists or
records".
Speaking to ANSA on Monday, Messner described the decision by
Guinness World Records to strip him of his title as "nonsense".
"First of all, I have never claimed any records, so they cannot
disown me," said the 79-year-old, one of italy's most
illustrious extreme mountaineers.
"Also, mountains change, like everything in nature. Especially
on Annapurna, all it takes is for the snow cornice to collapse
and the summit drops five metres," he added.
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