In the 1980s South Tyrolean climber Reinhold Messner and Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka were locked in a race to be the first man to climb all fourteen 8000 meter high peaks in the world. Both men summited without supplemental oxygen, often alone, and even in winter, feats deemed impossible until they did it. Expert had assumed a human could summit more than one 8000er in a lifetime, then these two summited four peaks in a year. But at what cost: Messner lost his brother and two friends; Kukuczka lost two friends and ultimately he lost his life.