Investigation into the DNA of a bone sample brought back from the Himalayas by Rheinhold Messner has cleared up the long-standing mystery over what happened to Messner's brother Gunther, when he and Rheinhold descended the mountain in 1970, according to Messner.
For years there has been a fierce dispute over what exactly happened on the descent with several notable figures accusing Messner of sacrificing his brother for his own ambition when he sent him down the wrong way. This year Messner returned to Nanga Parbat, acting on information from several previous expeditions about human remains on the mountain. Messner located this body which he strongly believed to be that of his brother, and which was found in a location which supported Messners version of events and not the accusers. This DNA evidence has now confirmed what that the remains were indeed his brother vindicating his original story although the K2Climb web site is reporting that this particular feud is far from over.