The Daily Telegraph - Where man meets mountain
August 1, 2015

Climber extraordinaire Reinhold Messner has completed his mission to carve six museums into the rockfaces of the Dolomites. Michelle Jana Chan spoke to him at the spectacular latest opening.

From the top of Mount Kronplatz, I gaze at the rugged range of peaks around me. To the north are the Zillertal Alps; in the other direction, Marmolada glacier; the Lienz Dolomites lie east and the Ortler to the west. A crown of summits and spires, pinnacles and towers, and below, dark-green pine forests and meadows of wildflowers.

Out in force are hikers, paragliders and mountain bikers in body armour preparing to point their front wheel downhill. But they all halt as one man, surprisingly diminutive given his peerless physical achievements, emerges from a cable car. He is wearing a jacket and slacks, while those around him are dressed in Gore-Tex. They stop and point, pulling out cameras, and whispering to companions.

One fan approaches to shake his hand. “I want to thank you for all the emotions you have generated,” he says, blinking back tears.

Reinhold Messner is the greatest mountaineer of all time. He was the first to scale all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre-plus mountains.

He was the first to climb Everest without oxygen. And the first to climb Everest alone.

I follow close behind him as he walks – slowly, sure-footed, steadily – over the grassy terrain towards his latest challenge, the MMM Corones, a museum at 2,275m designed by Zaha Hadid. It explores the discipline of mountaineering, on which Messner himself had a radical impact.

Walls are etched in quotations by the climbing greats; there is a case showing the evolution in tools and aids over the past 100 years; and a section on the documenting of expeditions, from oil paintings to GoPro HD video.

MMM Corones is one of six museums Messner has created over 20 years across this German-speaking corner of north-east Italy. Attracting 100,000 visitors a year, they are all in outstanding locations and form a neat circuit for travellers. “Mountains have a cultural dimension, too,” Messner says. “That is why there is a point to doing museums about them. They are a strong part of European culture.”

This sixth museum, which cost £2 million to build, is causing a stir because Messner says it is his last (although he said that about the fifth) and because of the museum’s avant-garde architect. Hadid has dreamt up gigantic glass-and-concrete apertures on the flanks of the mountain; it looks more like a Bond villain’s lair than a cultural institution. Inside is a series of fluid, interconnected spaces carved into the mountain; cascading ramps and stairways tumble down three levels. It is mostly subterranean yet cleverly doused in natural light from panoramic windows, which use reflective glass on the exterior to mirror the mountain-scape.

As Messner and I stand on the viewing terrace, the cloud lifts.

“These are the mountains of my childhood,” he says, pointing across the valley. “The Geislerspitzen. The Heiligkreuzkofel, the hardest climb of my life.” “Really?” I ask, incredulous that anything could be harder than a solo ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen.

“The middle pillar of Heiligkreuzkofel, a 600m wall,” Messner mumbles. “I was 23 years old, my brother Günther was 21. We slept on an overhang. There were no holes [to insert a piton], nothing. I felt trapped. Below me was an abyss. Somehow I did it but nobody believed us. For 10 years, people said it was a lie, until someone else finally did it and he found my piton. That was the most dangerous situation of my life.”

A few years later his younger brother was dead on Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat, nicknamed “the naked mountain” because its sides are too steep for snow to stick. The brothers had reached the summit together but Günther never made it down. Reinhold lost toes and fingertips to frostbite. His climbing life was changed forever.

With compromised dexterity, Messner had to conjure up new challenges, less about scaling rock faces and more about high-altitude mountaineering. He became the standard-bearer of a new form of extreme Alpinism, attacking the hardest routes in a single push, travelling as lightly and quickly as possible, shunning the paraphernalia of porters, pre-loaded camps, fixed ropes and supplementary oxygen.

What captured the public’s imagination was his 1978 ascent of Everest with Peter Habeler. They reached the summit without bottled oxygen, achieving what many said was impossible. Two years later, Messner climbed Everest again but this time alone, on a new route by the North Face and again without bottled oxygen. He had reached the highest point on Earth solo and unsupported.

Messner has transformed the way people look at 8,000m mountains – as something achievable. At the entrance to MMM Corones, there is a quote on the wall. “Wo beginnt der Alpinismus, wenn der Tourismus den Gipfel des Mount Everest erreicht hat?” (“If tourism is reaching the top of Everest, where does Alpinism go?”)

Messner says the good mountaineers today are heading up lesser-known peaks “in Pakistan, in eastern Tibet; mountains that are 6,000 or 6,500m high with vertical walls twice the height of the Eiger”. The rest is tourism, he says, and he throws out a challenge to all those who like to test their limits in the mountains. “Better to climb an easy peak on your own than be taken up by a guide,” he says. Perhaps he sees the flicker of fear in my eyes, because his voice softens. “Take someone else. Alone it is too dangerous. You feel the fear much earlier on your own.”

I cannot conceive of the isolation, the lonely decision-making, the absence of camaraderie.

“It’s like being on the moon,” he says. “You feel your exposure, especially at night. They say only children are afraid of the dark. Bullshit. Grown men, too. Me, too.”

Messner has defied his fears like few others. He seems to be defying his age, too. On the road for half of the year, he will be in the Karakorams later this month, and in October he travels to Mount Kenya. But he always returns to his homeland in the South Tyrol and these grey-white limestone peaks with their vertical walls and sheer cliffs.

“I have done 2,500 climbs in the Dolomites,” he says. “They are for me still the most beautiful mountains in the world.”

Visit the world’s most unique museums
A walking tour of the Messner Mountain Museum

The Messner Mountain Museum (messner-mountain-museum.it/en) is a network of six museums across the South Tyrol and Belluno regions of north-east Italy. Tickets can be bought separately or combined; the MMM Tour-Ticket covers entry to all six museums and costs €35 (£25).
A road trip taking in all six museums can be done in three to four days but a longer journey, pairing some hiking trails with the museums, is a great way to explore the region.
A few suggestions follow below.

MMM Firmian
The centrepiece museum just south of Bolzano (Bozen) seeks to explore the relationship between men and mountains. Displays cover mountains in art and religion.
Opening times: late March to early November, 10am-6pm. Closed Thursdays.
The trek: a 15-minute drive from the museum, the Three Castles loop begins and ends at Castle Korb passing two medieval castles with views over the Etsch valley.
Duration: two hours.
Difficulty: easy-moderate.
Details: eppan.com/en

MMM Juval
A museum of mountain art – and Messner’s summer home. Guided tours only.
Opening times: late March to late June, and September to early November, 10am-4pm. Closed Wednesdays.
The trek: the Val Senales Waalweg trail follows irrigation channels that date back 1,000 years, leaving from and leading back to Juval Castle.
Duration: 2½ hours.
Difficulty: easy-moderate.
Details: suedtirolerland.it/en

MMM Ortles
At an altitude of 1,900m, this underground museum explores the horrors of ice, avalanche and darkness.
Opening times: late May to mid-October and early December to early May, 1pm/2pm-6pm/7pm depending on the month.
The trek: a demanding two-day trek up South Tyrol’s highest peak, Ortles (3,905m), with a vertical climb of 2,210m. There is a rocky wall, vertical in parts, but equipped with fixed chains and climbing aids. A night is usually spent at Rifugio Payer.
Duration: 12½ hours.
Difficulty: very tough.
Details: sentres.com

MMM Dolomites
Up on Monte Rite (2,181m) in the heart of the Dolomites, this museum is dedicated to rock, including new routes and first ascents, with dramatic views.
Opening times: June to September, 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm/6pm depending on the month.
The trek: starting at Passo Cibiana, this four-mile trek covers the upper massif of Monte Rite. A lightly exposed section of the trail is equipped with a wire cable. Use the trail up to Monte Rite and take the shuttle bus down.
Duration: two hours.
Difficulty: tough.
Details: rifugiomonterite.it

MMM Ripa
A museum offering insights into mountain people around the world.
Opening times: mid-May to early November and late December to late April, 10am/noon-6pm depending on the month. Closed Tuesdays.
The trek: starting in Bruneck, this loop trail heads up to the village of Reischach.
Duration: 2½ hours.
Difficulty: easy.
Details: bruneck.com

MMM Corones
Up on Mt Kronplatz (2,275m), Messner’s newest museum explores the history of Alpinism.
Opening times: early June to mid-October and early December to mid-April, 10am-4pm.
The trek: the Heiligkreuzkofel. A short drive from the museum, take the chairlift from St Leonhard to Heilig Kreuz, which leads to Kreuzkofel. The trail continues across the mountain’s western slope up to the Kreuzkofelscharte (2,612m); rocky passages are secured with ropes.
Duration: 6½ hours.
Difficulty: very tough.
Details: sentres.com

When to go
South Tyrol is a year‑round destination but Messner’s museums close during certain months. Best to visit in September when all the museums are open.