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Messner was the first man to ascend Mount Everest alone, during Monsoon Season no less, without supplementary oxygen in 1980 (he'd done it earlier as part of a two-man team with Peter Haebeler in 1978), first to achieve a solo ascent of the technically difficult Nanga Parbat, and the first to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level). He has also crossed Antarctica by himself. He has written a number of books about his experiences, many available translated into English and other languages. His solo oxygenless ascent of Everest is unlikely to be duplicated, as the mountain today resembles a busy tourist resort, and no one climbs 'solo'.
He today carries on a diversified business related to his mountaineering skills. Since 1999 he has held political office as a member of the European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union. Other organisations of European countries such as NATO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union have parliamentary assemblies as well, but the European Parlia for the Italian Green Party ( Federazione dei Verdi).
Charges have been leveled against Messner that he has perhaps pushed himself too hard in his career and suffered real brain damage from hypoxiaHypoxia is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole generalized hypoxia or region of the body tissue hypoxia is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Hypoxia is often associated with high altitudes, where it is called altitude sickness. Symptom at high altitudes. Others counter that this does not in any way detract from his accomplishments, and Messner himself has always been very much an individualist from the start.
An unrelated tidbit is that Ben Folds FiveBen Folds Five ( 1994 2000) was a three member band formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They played what might be called piano-dominated pop/ rock. Much of their work was influenced by jazz, evident in frequent improvised passages through bridge and/or released an album titled The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in 1999. The title has nothing to do with the mountain climber, but in fact refers to a name their friend put on fake IDs back in their college days.