Reinhold Messner and Nirmal Purja meeting for Sports Festival in Italy

Save the date: on Thursday 8 October the video will be screened documenting the encounter of the "king of the eight-thousanders" Reinhold Messner and Nirmal Purja, the Nepalese who in 2019 needed just six months and six days to climb all 14 8000ers. The two giants of Himalayan mountaineering have already met once before, last year at the foot of Nanga Parbat when the former British army Gurkha was about halfway through his Project Possible which aimed to climbed all fourteen eightthousanders with supplementary oxygen in less than seven months.

On that occasion Purja stated "Soon I realised that, when you come out of nowhere in the mountaineering world and you say you will climb all 14X8000m peaks within 7 months, almost all the mountaineers of the modern age thought I was joke. This man Sir Reinhold Messner, was different, we talked and within 2 minutes of talking he said - Nims you will do it. Only those who believe in making the impossible can see this kind of vision - I guess? It was an honour meeting the living legend of 8000ers and the man who believed in his vision from his heart."

Firmiano Castle on the outskirts of Bozen is the seat of the meeting, while the topics range from mountains and mountaineers, dreams and fears, challenges and risks. The encounter will be broadcast on Thursday 8 October via the websites gazzetta.it and ilfestivaldellosport.it

After this exceptional warmup the festival continues with other star guests including, with regard to mountaineering and climbing: Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold in streaming on Saturday 10 October, followed by a live encounter and streaming with Nives Meroi and Romano Benet, while Hervé Barmasse is scheduled for Sunday 11 Octobr. Furthermore, the Climbing Masterclass with Adam Ondra, Stefano Ghisolfi, Michael Piccolaruaz, Ludovico Fossali and Laura Rogora will also take place on Saturday 10 October.

Nirmal Purja Project Possible
Annapurna I 8091m: 23 April 2019
Dhaulagiri I 8167m: 12 May 2019
Kangchenjunga 8586m: 15 May 2019
Everest 8848m: 22 May 2019
Lhotse 8516m: 22 May 2019
Makalu 8163m: 24 May 2019
Nanga Parbat 8125m: 3 July 2019
Gasherbrum I 8080m: 15 July 2019
Gasherbrum II 8035m:  18 July 2019
K2 8614m: 24 July 2019
Broad Peak 8051m: 26 July 2019
Cho Oyu 8188m: 23 September 2019
Manaslu 8163m: 27 September 2019
Shishapangma 8027m: 29 October 2019