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Following a conversation with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
steerpikelet last night, I think it's time I blogged about Annapurna. It's a massif in the Himalayas, the highest peak of which was the first 8000m mountain to be climbed, by a group of French mountaineers led by Maurice Herzog in 1950. It's also the title of Herzog's memoir of the expedition, which I'm currently re-reading. I first heard of Annapurna a few months ago when I saw the book in the window of the Oxfam bookshop (my financial nemesis). I bought it, and read it in March (I was reading it in Switzerland when I met michiexile).
The story's as simply told as it's ( incredible )
But they climbed the mountain, and they all got down, mostly in one piece - an achievement all the more impressive when you discover that Annapurna is the deadliest of all the 8000-metre mountains, with fully 40% of those who tried to climb it dying in the attempt.
Herzog, who lost all of his toes and most of his fingers (he dictated the book from hospital), was made a national hero on his return, and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur and later became Mayor of Chamonix. But the national spin machine wrote the others out of the tale almost completely. More sinisterly, Herzog apparently made the others sign a five-year gag order, preventing them from writing about the expedition. Lachenal died in a skiing accident five years later, shortly before the ban expired.
Assteerpikelet and I agreed, it would make a great film. I'd like to see it in French, actually: for some reason, it would feel wrong to see British or American actors playing these roles. And the languages used are significant: the Frenchmen spoke French to each other, the Sherpas spoke Gurkhali, and the coolies spoke Hindi, but the common language was English.
Now I want to read the other books about Annapurna: Lachenal's Carnets de Vertige (though I'm not sure if my French is up to it), Lionel Terray's Conquistadors of the Useless, and David Roberts' book True Summit, which claims to reveal the true story of the expedition. And, while I'm at it, Annapurna: A Woman's Place, an account of the 1978 all-female US expedition.
steerpikelet last night, I think it's time I blogged about Annapurna. It's a massif in the Himalayas, the highest peak of which was the first 8000m mountain to be climbed, by a group of French mountaineers led by Maurice Herzog in 1950. It's also the title of Herzog's memoir of the expedition, which I'm currently re-reading. I first heard of Annapurna a few months ago when I saw the book in the window of the Oxfam bookshop (my financial nemesis). I bought it, and read it in March (I was reading it in Switzerland when I met michiexile).The story's as simply told as it's ( incredible )
But they climbed the mountain, and they all got down, mostly in one piece - an achievement all the more impressive when you discover that Annapurna is the deadliest of all the 8000-metre mountains, with fully 40% of those who tried to climb it dying in the attempt.
Herzog, who lost all of his toes and most of his fingers (he dictated the book from hospital), was made a national hero on his return, and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur and later became Mayor of Chamonix. But the national spin machine wrote the others out of the tale almost completely. More sinisterly, Herzog apparently made the others sign a five-year gag order, preventing them from writing about the expedition. Lachenal died in a skiing accident five years later, shortly before the ban expired.
As
steerpikelet and I agreed, it would make a great film. I'd like to see it in French, actually: for some reason, it would feel wrong to see British or American actors playing these roles. And the languages used are significant: the Frenchmen spoke French to each other, the Sherpas spoke Gurkhali, and the coolies spoke Hindi, but the common language was English.Now I want to read the other books about Annapurna: Lachenal's Carnets de Vertige (though I'm not sure if my French is up to it), Lionel Terray's Conquistadors of the Useless, and David Roberts' book True Summit, which claims to reveal the true story of the expedition. And, while I'm at it, Annapurna: A Woman's Place, an account of the 1978 all-female US expedition.