Reinhold Messner

Born in South Tyrol in 1944, Messner turned high-altitude climbing into a test of human physiology: in 1978 he and Peter Habeler reached Everest's summit without supplementary oxygen, and two years later he soloed it the same way. He became the first to summit all fourteen eight-thousanders, none with bottled air. When the peaks ran out he walked across Antarctica and Greenland without machines or sleds, then crossed the Gobi alone. From 1999 to 2004 he served in the European Parliament for the Greens, though the mountains kept calling him back to write - more than 80 books now. In 2010 and 2018 he collected the sport's highest honours, the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award and the Princess of Asturias Award, confirmations of what the climbing world already knew.