Reinhold Messner has climbed all of the world's 8,000m peaks

Organisers of the Dundee Mountain Film Festival believe the highlight of its 26 year history will take place this weekend.

Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner will be speaking at the event, which runs from 26 to 30 November.

Mr Messner was the first person to reach the summit of Everest without extra oxygen.

He has also crossed the Antarctic, Greenland, Tibet and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts on foot.

'Bravest adventurers'

Opening the festival will be Slovenian mountaineer Tomaz Humar, who will recount how he battled for his life on the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat.

Films, other talks, and photographic exhibitions will follow.

Programme director Alastair Stewart said: "The big event of the festival, I think all 26 years of the festival, is Reinhold Messner, who is the top mountaineer in the world - his lecture is entitled Passion for Limits.

"Reinhold was the first person to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen and also the first person to climb all 14 8,000m peaks in the world."

The 400 tickets for Mr Reinhold's talk sold out well in advance.

Mr Stewart added: "We're very excited at the prospect of hearing the stories and watching the films behind some of the bravest adventurers of their generation."