All Fourteen Eight-Thousanders

* Messner is recognized as one of the greatest mountaineers of all time
* Collector edition brings us ever closer to understanding the mind and the practices of mountaineering's best-known visionary
* Includes 113 color photos and 76 black & white photos

On October 16, 1986, Reinhold Messner's singular approach to mountaineering enabled him to become the first person to conquer all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks. Never a primary goal, his attainment of this astonishing record was more the result of an unfolding of style and self-expression that began in his teenage years, climbing in the Dolomites and Alps. Having climbed the hardest routes there, he transferred his passion for testing his ingenuity and skill to Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya in 1970. "My object was not so much to gain the summit," he says of his early climbs, "but to discover in how little time and with how little technical aid it was possible to make the various climbs-as well as to put up some new routes." Over the next 16 years, Messner made headlines for his often stunning mountaineering accomplishments.

In this book, Messner recalls the 14 mountain peaks and expeditions that ultimately made him both famous and controversial. In candid detail he describes the defining events and incredible difficulties of the climbs -- how did he persevere through the hallucinations, storms, debilitating fear, and even the death of climbing mates? Why was he accused of stepping over dead bodies to reach a summit? What moments made the climbing life worth its often excruciating agony? Here are the grand visions, the false starts and failures, the politics, the narrow escapes, and the joyous victories as well as Messner's views on the great race for all 14 eight-thousanders. Includes vibrant color photographs, maps of the ascent routes, and commentary from some of Messner's fellow mountaineers.

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