Against the Wind: Reflections on a Self-Determined Life

The "Mountain King" looks back on eight decades, summit controversies, and his lasting legacy of climbing for the experience and the journey

Reinhold Messner is one of history's greatest mountaineers, a man who pushed the frontier of what is possible for a whole generation of climbers and beyond. In his new memoir, Against the Wind, Messner looks back on a life of accomplishments and recounts some of the most important episodes after turning eighty in 2024.

He also addresses darker times and infamous controversies–including being discredited as a young mountaineer, his divorce and remarriage, Guinness stripping him of his world records in 2023, the recent revisions to measurements of 8000-meter summits, and the discovery of his brother Gunther's remains on Nanga Parbat.

This new memoir is classic Messner–no apologies, no regrets, and no backing down.