Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8,000-Meter Peak

The name of the book accurately sums it up, but as a wise person once said, “It's not the destination, it's the journey.” This journey, my friends, is a wild tale of mountaineers on a mission that is not for the faint of heart.

In 1950, Maurice Herzog led a group of elite French climbers to the summit of one of the tallest Himalayan peaks (#10, I believe), named Annapurna. From what I understand, the range gets its name from the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment. This gorgeous mountain is 8,075 meters, or 26,493 feet, tall. Just shy of Mt. Everest's peak of 8,850 meters, or 29,032 for context. This climb was filled with possible dangers, including frost blindness, avalanches, frostbite, altitude sickness, and unforeseen pitfalls.

What makes this journey so interesting? To me, the reconnaissance of actually finding the range was captivating. The alpine team was given maps that were ambiguous and oftentimes incomplete, leading them to scratch their heads when time, energy, food, and changing weather patterns matter. They often used a guerilla style of information gathering where teams of two would search nearby ranges in hopes of spotting a face suitable for climbing. Once the mountain was found, it was up to Herzog to set up camps that would give the team the best possible outcome of putting boots on the summit safely.

Who is this for? Well, I would say you would have to be pretty invested in climbing in general. Unfortunately, the writing is not the highlight of this book, and most of the terminology is not defined all that well. If you do not know your serac from your massif, you might be hitting Google fairly often. It is not a deal-breaker, though. Another bit of contention might arise over the Sherpa/Climber relationship. The mutual agreements are not defined as much as in other climbing books, so a new reader might be completely turned off by the idea of “hired muscle.” This idea could not be further from the truth. From what I have read, the relationship is built on respect, dependence, and overall experience. Most Sherpas have an exhaustive knowledge of the mountain ranges and understand the path to the least resistance. This book features Ang-Tharkey, the sherpa who apparently introduced his friend Tenzing Norgay to mountaineering. Norgay went on to summit Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary.