52 years after his death, the second boot - the missing one - that belonged to Gunther Messner was found on the Nanga Parbat (mountain range of Kashmir, Pakistan). The climber was in a consortium with his brother Reinhold and for many years the latter was accused of having abandoned the former at high altitude to finish the mountaineering enterprise at all costs.
In 2005, Gunther's remains were recovered, with only one boot. Now the Damir side has returned the other.
In 1970 Reinhold was 25 years old and had returned to Italy with the dramatic news: his brother, two years younger, had died.
"The discovery of the remains and a boot show without a shadow of a doubt that Gunther died during the descent and was not abandoned by me during the ascent", said the mountaineer.
The right boot has long been exhibited in the chapel of Castel Firmiano, with other relics of missing mountaineers. "I will decide together with my brothers what to do with the second boot," Reinhold explained.
(Unioneonline / ss)
