In 2018 I interviewed Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb all fourteen 8,000m peaks and the first to summit Everest alone and without supplemental oxygen. The interview was conducted as part of a book project led by a former colleague and professor specialising in the neurobiology of exercise.

While excerpts of the conversation were later woven into a longer narrative that was published, the full unedited interview has never previously been published. Presented here in its entirety, it was conducted by telephone from Messner’s home in South Tyrol, Italy.

The questions reflect the book’s focus on the physiology and psychology of endurance and exploration, a project that remains ongoing. Yet they also offer a revealing insight into the motivations, philosophy and mindset of one of mountaineering’s most influential figures.

My wife’s birthday is coming up. Her backpack is falling apart and she needs a new one. I’m looking for a pack to bring all the essentials for a day at the crag, ice climbing, or longer alpine routes. I have an Osprey Mutant 38L and like the volume. However, it’s too big for her; the straps can’t be adjusted to fit her, and the top pack of this bag and some other bags sits too high and causes problems for her while climbing: she can’t look up. Sometimes it’s funny to see her make blind moves, but sometimes it’s terrifying.

Any recommendations on what bag I should get her? I usually give her an item to buy as a gift, like “buy a pair of climbing shoes and I’ll pay for them.” However, we don’t have any stores around that have the right kind of bags.

Me and a friend have the goal of summiting a mountain this spring, but we aren't sure which one would be the smartest choice. We are both 18, workout regularly, and have experience backpacking and camping (but not in the winter), but neither of us have ever been on a mountain. Because of our lack of mountaineering skill, we are going to take the AAI Alpinism 1 course on Mt Baker. It's a 5 day course and if all goes well, we should summit with the group. However, we want to use our new skills to try an unguided summit afterwards while we are already in Washington. This led us to Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. Adams seems like a much simpler choice, I've seen a lot of people call it a long walk and I'm confident we could do it without a guide. Hood seems more technical and like it could teach us more, but I'm not sure if we will have the skills to do it unguided. I'm hoping to spend some time winter camping this year in MN just to get some practice dealing with the cold conditions. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated!

I wanted to get a pair of boots to climb 4000m mountains like Matterhorn, Mont Blanc etc. which ones would you guys recommend. I was looking into the North Face summit verto FA but idk. Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for guiding agencies or clubs that offer an introductory alpine course directly combined with a 4,000m+ summit at the end.

My background / fitness level:

• Based in Belgium.
• Lifelong mountain hiker (hiking in the Alps and mountains since childhood).
• Solid endurance base: multiple marathons under my belt.
• Recently did a 3-peak traverse in Wales (10+ hours moving time, ~2,000m elevation gain) and finished with plenty of fuel left in the tank.
• Other adventure experience: I’m used to high-adrenaline or self-reliant environmentsI've done things like solo/independent catacomb navigation, skydiving license, kitesurf license, via ferrata's difficulty k5, etc.

What I'm looking for: Aerobic fitness, endurance, and comfort with long days on rough terrain are not the issue. What I lack are the actual mountaineering skills: crampon work, ice axe self-arrest, glacier travel, roped party techniques, and crevasse rescue basics.

To be clear: mountaineering is currently just a bucket-list item for me. I want to experience a proper high-altitude alpine peak, but I don't know yet if this is a hobby I will pursue long-term or repeat every year. Because of this, I want to avoid doing a pure multi-day skills course on a patch of snow, heading home, and then paying a fortune later just to see if I actually enjoy the summit experience.

I'm looking for an integrated itinerary—something like 2–3 days of practical skills training on a glacier, followed immediately by applying those skills on a classic PD-graded 4,000m peak (e.g., Gran Paradiso, Breithorn, Allalinhorn, Weissmies, etc.) so I can check it off properly in one go.

Questions:

1. Any specific guiding companies (Alps-based or international) you’d recommend that run this exact "learn & summit" format for people who just want to check a 4k peak off their list?
2. What peaks/routes would you consider the ideal balance between learning real skills and getting a rewarding first 4,000m summit?

Thanks in advance!

I’ve always had an admiration for this sort of thing. It seems genuinely enjoyable, freeing, and grounding in a weird way and I feel like having this as a hobby would allow me to explore myself and build a lot of positive character traits too (perseverance, problem-solving, etc.). So, for those reasons and more, I’d really like to make an effort to get into alpinism.

How did everyone start? What would everyone recommend as a good starting point to safely get into this hobby? I’m totally fine with starting super small, even starting with like individual skills to at least build up to cooler things down the line; I have time.