GILGIT: As they melt away, glaciers sometimes bring the memories of those lost to the mountains back to the surface.

Reinhold Messner lost his brother Guenther on Nanga Parbat in 1970. Last week, he relived the tragedy again. “The second shoe of my brother Günther was found at the foot of the Diamir Glacier by local people,” wrote Messner on social media, foreign media reported.

The first boot turned up on the ice back in 2005 after Messner discovered a bone in 2000 while attempting a new route. He brought the bone home, and DNA analysis revealed that it did belong to his brother. That these remains appeared on the Diamir side of the mountain helped answer several questions.

According to the details, three locals of Ferry Meadows, Mir Ghani, Shakar Khan and Fazal, who work partly with the adventure and trekking group in Nanga Parbat, found the shoe about 3 to 4 km away from the accident site recently.

The 1970 Nanga Parbat traverse was one of the greatest feats in high-altitude mountaineering in the second half of the 20th century. It was also the dramatic final outcome of a troubled expedition.

The bold, creative Messner clashed with the strict expedition leader, the legendary Karl Herrlingkoffer. Herrlingkoffer had led four previous attempts on the so-called Killer Mountain, two successes via the Diamir and Rakhiot routes and two failures on the sheer 4,300m Rupal Face.