Reinhold Messner

He calls himself a "border crosser", two words that briefly describe his philosophy of life. To be in close contact with nature and get to know his own limits have always been some of his main objectives. "I am what I do" - this is the motto of extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner, born in 1944 in Bressanone, South Tyrol. He loved travelling in eastern countries, across the Mongolian Gobi desert, the Antarctic or Greenland. And several times he got to know his own limits, for instance when crossing the Arctic.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest mountaineers ever, Reinhold Messner was the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1978 (with the Austrian alpinist Peter Habeler), the first to climb all 14 peaks over 8,000 m without supplemental oxygen and the first to make a Nanga Parbat solo ascent.

Reinhold Messner is currently working on one of his most famous projects, a worldwide unique mountain museum, including a total of six different museums. The project is called "Messner Mountain Museum" (MMM) and its main seat is found at Castel Firmiano near to Frangarto/Appiano (MMM Firmian, opened in June 2006). Its main aim? To create a special kind of encounter between mankind and the mountains.

The other five museums are found at Juval Castle in Val Venosta (MMM Juval, dedicated to mankind, religion and the mountains), in Solda all'Ortles (MMM Ortles, dedicated to the mountain's ice and crystal worlds), on Plan de Corones in Val Pusteria (MMM Corones, inaugurated in July 2015), at Brunico Castle in Val Pusteria (MMM Ripa, dedicated to mountain people all over the world) and on Monte Rite in the Veneto region (MMM Dolomites). Résumé: MMM - worth seeing!