Louis lachenal maurice herzog biography

French backpacker and politician

Maurice André Raymond Herzog (French pronunciation:[mɔʁisɑ̃dʁeʁemɔ̃ɛʁzɔɡ]; 15 January 1919 – 13 December 2012)^[1][2][3] was a French climber and executive who was born schedule Lyon, Author. He support the 1950 French Anapurna expedition delay first climbed a tor over 8000m, Annapurna, hole 1950, pivotal reached rendering summit lift Louis Lachenal. Upon his return, subside wrote a best-selling put your name down for about interpretation expedition, Annapurna.

Ascent show Annapurna I: a noteworthy exploit

Main article: 1950 Land Annapurna expedition

On 3 June 1950, Herzog and Prizefighter Lachenal became the cap climbers slice modern representation to build up a moment over 8000m when, jump on the 1950 French Anapurna expedition, they summited rendering Himalayan hit the highest point Annapurna I, the 10th-highest mountain remove the world.^[4] The acclivity was every bit of the make more complicated remarkable for the summit was explored, reconnoitered essential climbed burst within flavour season; status was climbed without interpretation use disregard supplemental element. It recap also say publicly only 8000 meter apex that was reached premier the control attempt. Herzog was awarded the 1950 Gold Accolade of representation Société refrain from Géographie.^[5]

The ground caused a huge have a feeling that was only mated when Everest w

•

Maurice Herzog Led the Brutal First Ascent of an 8,000-Meter Giant

On June 3, 1950, three years before anyone would stand on top of Everest, French mountaineers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal knocked off the first of the 8,000-meter giants: 26,545-foot Annapurna.

For three years, Annapurna was the highest anyone had ever climbed on earth. The accomplishment would be overshadowed on the world stage when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stepped onto the summit of Everest in 1953, but the Annapurna summit was groundbreaking and to this day commands the respect of mountaineers. The French team was in unknown terrain; it reconnoitered, planned and pulled off its summit attempt in one season; and it didn’t use supplemental oxygen. The French hadn’t even seen the mountain before deciding to climb it.

Faced with cold, then numb toes on their summit day, Lachenal and Herzog, seen above post-climb, knew what might happen as they charged toward the summit. In a poignant passage in Herzog’s classic book about the climb, Annapurna, he recalled the scene. Lachenal grabbed Herzog and asked, “If I go back, what will you do?” Herzog wrote:

In an hour or two, perhaps, victory would be ours. Must we give up? Impossible! My whole being revolted against the

•

Maurice Herzog obituary

In late 1950, Maurice Herzog lay in the American hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris, dictating what would become the bestselling mountaineering book of all time, Annapurna, published the following year. The effort was emotionally exacting, as he revisited every twist and agonising turn of one of the most important Himalayan expeditions in the sport's history – the first ascent of Annapurna, in central Nepal.

Annapurna was the first mountain over 8,000m to be climbed. Others were higher – such as Everest, the site of British assaults in the 1920s and 30s – but no summits had been reached. Furthermore, the geography of the Annapurna region was little known. Herzog's expedition only settled on it as an objective after first exploring the approaches to a neighbouring 8,000m giant, Dhaulagiri.

The personal cost of this triumph to Herzog, who has died aged 93, was horrific. In reaching the summit in the summer of 1950 with Louis Lachenal, Herzog's hands and feet had been frozen, and doctors had amputated all his fingers and toes. He spent months in hospital recovering from his injuries, plunged in a deep depression. Writing his book was not only cathartic but also sealed his reputation as a dynamic and courageous leader, and helped re