Maurice Herzog (1919–2012)

This is a terrifying book.

Part of that is knowing how dangerous Annapurna is and how many climbers have died there. To the 1950 expedition, it was just another Himalayan peak, not obviously different from others.

The most terrifying part of the book was the pervasive bad decision-making and poor teamwork. Almost everything was done with macho heroics and dictatorial leadership. It is normal for Himalayan mountaineering to be done at the very edge of the ability of the most capable climbers, show more but it isn't normal to so misjudge a hike between camps that you run out of food and crawl the last hundred yards calling for help.

This is the kind of mountaineering that Paul Petzoldt's reforms targeted. In The New Wilderness Handbook, he talks about plans for time, energy, and climate. Herzog's expedition failed to plan for each of those.

Go ahead and read this to get the testosterone-soaked version of mountaineering. Then read "The Ascent of Nanda Devi" (Tilman, 1936) and "Annapurna: A Woman's Place" (Blum, 1978) to get different approaches.

Of course, also read "The Ascent of Rum Doodle" (Bowman, 1956). Was Bowman thinking of Herzog's book when someone identifies some local flora as "Nostalgia, Melancholia, and old-fashioned Manspride"?

Finally, some maps would have helped, a lot. show less

Although not terribly well-written (or translated?), this is an absorbing account of trying to climb an 8,000 meter mountain with poor maps and uncertain provisions. First they had to decide which mountain to climb! Eventually, after much scouting, they selected Annapurna, but they really had no idea what would happen once they came nearer to their goal. They could only guess. Herzog makes it sound like they had a very well organized group with different skills (including a physician), which show more probably saved them from death. The rapid approach of monsoon season was also a great concern. Overall, an exciting account of an amazing adventure. show less

For all the controversy surrounding the accuracy of Herzog's account (see True Summit by David Roberts, but also Annapurna by Reinhold Messner) it is still a gripping account of a momentous expedition. When the French team set out to the Nepal Himalaya, they had rudimentary maps and were planning to climb either of two 8,000m peaks: Dhaulagiri or Annapurna. In the course of their short expedition, they had to survey both mountains (discovering in the process that the maps of both were show more significantly wrong), set up base camps and climb, with very little time to acclimatise. Virtually any expedition carried out today would think it lunacy to attempt such a thing, and yet the French team succeeded in climbing one of these vast peaks, with no loss of life.

This, the group leader's account, provides a wonderful insight into how exactly they went about such a phenomenal task and made me start to realise just what a significant thing it is to climb such a mountain. These were amazingly fit men, supremely driven even though they were bowled over by the vastness of the mountains they saw when they arrived. They dashed up and down valleys and passes, desperately trying to find routes up either mountain, and once they had, threw everything into a summit attempt. My one major criticism of this account would be that the maps aren't always as clear or detailed as a map-lover like me might have hoped. Nonetheless, Herzog's tale is compelling and the prose makes up for a lack of knowing exactly where they were. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and it's inspired me to find out more about these extraordinary people who decide to risk themselves climbing these beautiful but deadly peaks. show less

Annapurna: Conquest of the First 8000-metre Peak (1951) is a famous and important book in the Outdoor literature genre. It recounts the first successful climb of a mountain greater than 8,000 meters. There are only 14 such mountains in the world, all in the Himalayas, and they represent the super bowl of climbing. When a French team led by Maurice Herzog climbed Annapurna in 1950, no one was sure these mountains even could be climbed and survived, but they were determined to find out one way show more or another. After he was done (and survived) and famously wrote "There are other Annapurna's in the lives of men", it started the race for the ultimate prize, Mount Everest (first peaked in 1953 by Hillary), and Himalayan mountaineering in general.

Why is the book so famous? Maurice Herzog became the first living mountaineer to attain global celebrity status. National Geographic calls it the most influential mountaineering book ever written, as of 2000 it has sold over 11 million copies. I think a number of factors are at work. It was written in 1951 soon after WWII when millions of veterans accustomed to the adrenalin and danger of war were left with comparatively boring lives and looking for thrills to fill a void, not to mention a generation of young men who were too young to fight finding ways to prove themselves during peacetime. The idea of exploration caught the worlds attention, in particular climbing the worlds highest mountains was in the early 1950s the moon-shot of its time. The cover shows Herzog in a space-age like suit, straight out of a 1950s sci-fi movie. Finally, the book is written with novelistic techniques, what we today call "creative nonfiction", although in some ways its firmly rooted in the 19th century traditions. The book itself I found to be a slog. The last 60 pages or so are fantastic, but the first two-thirds of the book are really boring and tiring. There is even a parody novel The Ascent of Rum Doodle (1956) which pokes gentle but pointed fun at Herzog's sometimes pompous writing style. I'm glad to have finally read it since it is so historically important and impossible to avoid in mountaineering and outdoor literature, but it's reputation has probably exceeded its aesthetic qualities compared to more modern works.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2010 cc-by-nd show less