The Guinness Book of World Records strips Reinhold Messner of his crown as King of the 8,000-meter peaks. He would not be the one to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders first. According to German mountaineering columnist Eberhard Jurgalski, Messner and Hans Kammerlander allegedly missed the summit of Annapurna in 1985. "Nonsense," was the 79-year-old South Tyrolean's retort. "In the first place," he explained, "I have never claimed any records, so they cannot disown me. Also, mountains change. It's been almost 40 years, if anyone climbed Annapurna for sure it was me and Hans". On the Guinness World Records website, American Edmund Viesturs is now listed as the first person to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders between 1989 and 2005. Explicit reference is made to Jurgalski's contentions about the old record. "No one who knows anything about mountaineering would question our feat, Jurgalski in fact knows nothing about it," Messner replies. "The mountain changes, like everything in nature. Especially on Annapurna, all it takes is for the snow frame to collapse and the summit drops five meters," Messner added. "The ridge leading to the summit is 3 kilometers long, Jurgalski simply confused the east summit with the main summit. Here evidently someone wants to stand out without having the slightest competence".