«36 years of difference? You will manage Donnie »- Corriere.it

from our reporter

Castle Joval – He now calls it “Dian’s Bridge”. he is The bridge that made them fall in love, in front of Brunico Castle, on August 18, 2018. It wasn’t immediately clear. But something must have exploded in my head (and heart) Reinhold Messner, King of the Eight Thousand, saw that young woman walking in a pastel-colored dress of heavy fabric, similar to the clothes worn in Nepal or South America. The Mountain Peoples Festival was held at the Ripa Museum, dedicated that year to Svaneti, the historic district of Georgia. At the end of the day, when she was about to leave, they met again and posed for a picture together. That’s when he, impulsively, asks for her phone number. You write it on his mobile, because he doesn’t know how to do it (after that, you will always teach him how to send messages). writes in the column: Diane Schumacher. The next day he called her. Less than three years later, they became husband and wife. Together they remember those days looking into each other’s eyes. She gets up and pours a drink and hits his hand. We’re at Castel Juval, in Val Venosta, home of the Messner Mountain Museum, in the room with elephants, Tibetan rugs, massive chandelier, and flint, Jack Russell Lady (who’s very jealous).

I got married on May 28, 2021 in an intimate ceremony. Why this date?

Diane: “I was born on February 28, it’s an important number for me. It is also important to Reinhold: by arranging his photographic archive, I found a picture of him as a child in which he wears a T-shirt with the number 28. I asked him to marry us that day ».

Reinhold, what made you call Diane right away?

“I liked this beautiful woman, I wanted to get to know her better. I was a little lost. My wife left me eight months ago and I wasn’t looking for a new partner, I survived well without even knowing how to cook: a little blot and dry bread are enough, then I often eat in restaurants when I am away for my work as a lecturer. ”
Diane: «Actually, he was already asking me on the bridge so many questions, I thought he wanted to offer me a job. Then when he called me I realized that he had another interest … ».
Reinhold: “..and I fell into the trap, because now we also work together!”.

The Messner Mountain Heritage, which takes care of the ultimate expedition, has created the latest round-the-world tour to learn what traditional mountaineering is.

Reinhold: “Diane is the CEO, and she follows the entire organizational part. It was important for us to build something of our own.”
Diane: “This last tour before Covid started in Australia and New Zealand, then in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now we leave again in September in Slovenia.”

Your marriage, the third to Reinhold and the second to Diane, has not been without criticism. First of all for the age difference: 36 years (from 1980, is from 1944).

Diane: “They repeat the same cliches, the same cliches we find in books and movies. They say I’m interested in the castle, in the money… We don’t pretend to tell others how they should live. But we like to decide for ourselves the matter of our lives.”
Reinhold: This money is unfair. I have four children and things are clear: Joval Castle belongs to Anna; entrusted the management of the Messner Mountain Museum to Magalena; We worked with Simon on my movie production company, but he now has two farms in the mountains and it follows that; I bought a house in Canada for my eldest daughter, Laila, where she lives.”

Diane, how did the Reinhold family receive her?

“Brothers and sisters were all very nice. In particular, I have a very nice relationship with Hubert, who never judges us, he has been by our side from the beginning. Among the children, I first met Laila two years ago, she is very creative and kind to me. Magdalena. She looks like her, she is the one I feel closest to. Anna is 20 years old: at her age I was already married … ».

With Thomas, with whom Rito was, he is now 15 years old. What is your son’s relationship with Breinhold?

“It was difficult at first, he asked me why I abandoned them. I tried to explain to him that in two years he would leave the house, and he could not stay next to a man I no longer loved. He lives with his father ».

Does he come to visit you now and then?

Diane: “No, he doesn’t like mountains and let’s just say he doesn’t consider Reinhold a stepfather.”

Are you thinking of your child?

Diane: “No, I couldn’t do this with Rito. And then Reinhold already has four ».

Can you tell me the advantage and disadvantage of each other?

Diane: “He has no patience. If we had a date and we had it on time, the clutch is the same. On the other hand, if we quarrel, he will not blame me: he immediately forgets everything ».
Reinhold: “Diane is a beautiful woman and she is hundreds of times more practical than me, she can fix anything. Disadvantage: He is very emotional.”
Diane: “I want to add that though he is impatient, when it comes to accompanying me to go shopping, which he hates, he never rushes me: if I have to try on clothes, he is there to look at me every time they change.”

Have you ever thought that you would never grow up together?

Reinhold: “I can’t change our age difference. And we can never get ready after that. But I know you can survive even without me.”
Diane: “We also love our heads, our ideas and our projects very much. I can never live with a person with whom my thoughts do not align.

talk about it Gunther, Reinhold’s brother who passed away in June 1970 While disembarking from Nanga Parbat?

Reinhold: “Dates don’t matter to me, my brother is alive in me. And it was important for me to go back to Nanga Parbat with my other brothers, to show them how it really went. Every time I talk about Günther, I feel like he is by my side.”
Diane: “In dealing with the Reinhold archive, I think that I am the closest person to Gunther than the rest of the family. I read his letters, I look at the pictures, as if I knew him ».

Are you fighting?

Reinhold: “Yes, of course. Perhaps when he indicates that someone is taking advantage of me. And then you are right.”
Diane: “The beautiful thing is that our relationship is an equal relationship, always on the same level. It always gives me the idea that what I think or do has value.”

What do you prefer to do?

Reinhold: “For us, travel is work, but work is our life. But when we rest quietly at home, on the sofa watching a detective movie, these are good times. We like to take responsibility for being together.”
Diane: “Yesterday Reinhold made me a buggy. I was sick, I had a fever, I gave him instructions and he did it himself. It was delicious. Here, this is our happiness.”