'Messner 8,000m king', backtracks Jurgalski

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 13 - German mountaineering reporter Eberhard Jurgalski on Friday backtracked on a claim that Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner failed to reach the summit of Annapurna in 1985, a claim that had led Guinness World Records to strip the legendary South Tyrolean climber of his record as the first person to climb the world's 14 mountains over 8,000 m.
    The Guinness World Records website now names the American Edmund Viesturs as the first person to have climbed all 14 8,000 m mountains between 1989 and 2005, making specific reference to Jurgalski's claims regarding Messner's former record.
    In a sensational U-Turn, the German expert now says a 'tolerance zone' of 190 metres is justified in the vicinity of certain peaks, such as Annapurna, which has an interminable ridge to the summit, and for this reason, the record belongs to Messner "forever".
    In his previous claim, Jurgalski said Messner in the company of Hans Kammerlander missed the summit of Nepalese peak Annapurna by a few metres.
    After Messner's removal from the Guinness Book of Records, Jurgalski was inundated with criticism from the mountaineering world and the 79-year-old's fans.
    Messner last Monday described as "nonsense" the records book move and Jurgalski's claim.
    "It's nonsense", the mountain man 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.
    "No one who knows anything about mountaineering would question our feat, Jurgalski in fact knows nothing about it," continued Messner.
    "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.
    "The ridge leading to the summit is 3 km long, Jurgalski has simply confused the east summit with the main summit. Here someone obviously wants to be noticed without having the slightest competence," insisted Messner.
    "This is how you destroy mountaineering," Messner's climbing partner Kammerlander in the 1985 Annapurna ascent told ANSA, describing the debate as "ridiculous".
    "Of course there is no absolute certainty, those were other times, without gps. At those altitudes all it takes is a snowstorm and dim sunlight," said the 66-year-old, also from Alto Adige.
    "We are still convinced that we were reached the summit, but who knows if there were another 5-6 metres to climb behind the rock.
    That would still not detract from our achievement," he continued.
    "Humanity really is getting worse," he concluded.
    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).