Italy's king of the 8,000-metre
peaks, climbing legend Reinhold Messner, was named a Grand
Officer of the Italian Republic for his contributions to culture
by President Giorgio Napolitano on Friday
"This honor particularly pleases me, because I'm getting it
for my cultural work and not as a mountain climber," said
Messner, who turns 70 in September.
The climbing legend, who was knighted for his feats by
former president Sandro Pertini, has set up five Messner
Mountain Museums in such locations as Brunico and Castel
Firmiano, with a sixth - designed by starchitect Zaha Hadid -
set for completion in time for his birthday.
He has turned to solo exploration in recent years,
including a two-month crossing of the Gobi desert in China and
Mongolia.
Messner, the pride of the autonomous Alto Adige (South
Tyrol) region, has a long list of adventurous achievements to
his credit.
He was the first man to scale all 14 of the world's
peaks higher than 8,000m and he is a legend among climbers
with the first oxygen-less conquest of Everest in 1980, a feat
until then thought impossible.
He has also made solo ascents of Nanga Parbat and Everest.
Messner lost seven toes and three fingers to frostbite
during the climb of Nanga Parbat in 1970, and his brother
Gunther died on the descent.
Messner stopped climbing 15 years ago but showed no
intention of putting his feet up at his castle in the Alps.
Instead, he turned his attention to polar expeditions.
In 1990 he became the first man to cross the Antarctic on
foot and later tried the Arctic too, but without success.
The Italian, born near the Austrian border, is also one of
the few Western people who claims to have seen the Yeti, the
mysterious ape-like creature dubbed the "Abominable Snowman."
He says that during expeditions in the Himalayas he has
encountered the Yeti not once, but four times, once close
enough to touch it.
He is the author of at least 63 books in German, 1970-2006,
many of which have been translated into other languages.
Some of these have been about his encounters with the Yeti.
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