One of the biggest films that screened at the was , a 108-minute German documentary with English subtitles directed by . In late September, before the European premiere of the film, journalist Johanna Stoeckl interviewed the famous German mountaineer about everything from his childhood to the evolution of alpinism. Two of Messner's most interesting answers came in the middle of the interview, when Stoeckler asked about his favorite athletes and the state of alpinism today.
Are there mountain climbers at present to whose achievements you tip your hat?
There are many I appreciate. If I’m supposed to give the
absolute highlights at this point, I would mention the American Steve
House and the Slovenian . I will also be following closely
. Someone like , a very sympathetic and cultured
fellow, after his ascent of Everest on usual routes, however, has to
prove that he wants to do real alpinism, not only speed climbing. There
are still are a lot of good alpinists. But today they have a hard time
even to be noticed by the media. Because all those charlatans,
fixed-route alpinists, and the so-called skyrunners absorb a lot of
media attention, and the media reporting is off the mark. I don’t want
to talk about competitive athletes in this context. Climbing on plastic
holds is a separate, brilliant discipline, but it has nothing to do with
alpinism.
Is it still possible to find real alpine adventures?
Fortunately, it is again. Recently I went with my son on a
well-known, classic route in the Dolomites, with a face height of 600
meters. In the past, for decades such a route counted about 60 ascents a
year. This year, we were the second rope team on this face. That means
nobody’s going anymore on classic routes. Climbing gardens and halls are
the real hype now. Everyone’s going there. The possibility of living an
adventure, exposing yourself to great difficulties, being on your own,
today is possible more than ever. Ralf Dujmovits recently captured on
camera a queue of over 300 climbers in tailback on the Lhotse Face.
Finally we have excellent photographic proof that what I have been
denouncing for 20 years is a reality. I have been criticized for it, but
it’s even worse than I had pictured. If everyone goes there, there will
be no more real adventures on Everest.
To read the full interview, published this past Monday by the Banff Centre, go to “.”
Unfortunately, the trailer below is in German. I searched and emailed others to try and find a version with subtitles, but came up empty. I will update it with a new trailer in English if I can find one.
—Joe Spring