There are other Annapurnas in the lives of men
Following a conversation with 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: Herzog and his group of mountaineers, who were the first Western climbers allowed into Nepal, travelled through India and Nepal in the hope of climbing either Dhaulagiri or Annapurna. Their maps were so inaccurate that they spent over a month just finding Annapurna (Dhaulagiri proved to be too difficult to be attempted with the gear and technique of the time, and it would be another ten years before it was climbed). Once they'd decided on Annapurna, there followed a few days of ferrying kit further and further up the mountain. Then on the third of June, 1950, Herzog and Louis Lachenal (one of the greatest moutaineers of his day) rose from Camp V on the summit glacier, and climbed the last stretch of the mountain. This is where it gets controversial. Reading between the lines, it seems clear that Herzog was suffering badly from hypoxia and consequently made poor decisions (they didn't take oxygen, as far as I can tell - not out of machismo, but simply because they were pioneers and it wasn't available). He lost his gloves and didn't try to cover his hands, even though they were getting frostbitten; when Lachenal wanted to go back, he said he was going on alone if need be; he spent too long on the summit taking cine film and photographs (none of which, significantly, appear in the book), even while Lachenal was exhorting him to get down before they got frostbite. They made it back down to Camp V, where two of their comrades were waiting for them, but they both had severe frostbite in their toes, and Herzog had severe frostbite in his fingers. Herzog and Lachenal had to be basically carried off the mountain by their colleagues and the Sherpas. Once they reached Base Camp, they could be seen by the expedition's medical officer. Unfortunately, everything they thought they knew about treating frostbite in 1950 subsequently turned out to be wrong, and the excruciatingly painful treatment they received (thawing their feet before they were off the mountain, arterial injections of Novocaine) was at best useless, and at worst actively harmful. But there was worse to come: since they'd spent so long in reconnaissance, the monsoon was about to arrive, and Herzog and Lachenal had to be carried back across Nepal on the backs of their coolies and Sherpas, with the doctor calling a halt every few hours to amputate another bit of finger or toe. Without anaesthetics, naturellement.
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.
The story's as simply told as it's incredible: Herzog and his group of mountaineers, who were the first Western climbers allowed into Nepal, travelled through India and Nepal in the hope of climbing either Dhaulagiri or Annapurna. Their maps were so inaccurate that they spent over a month just finding Annapurna (Dhaulagiri proved to be too difficult to be attempted with the gear and technique of the time, and it would be another ten years before it was climbed). Once they'd decided on Annapurna, there followed a few days of ferrying kit further and further up the mountain. Then on the third of June, 1950, Herzog and Louis Lachenal (one of the greatest moutaineers of his day) rose from Camp V on the summit glacier, and climbed the last stretch of the mountain. This is where it gets controversial. Reading between the lines, it seems clear that Herzog was suffering badly from hypoxia and consequently made poor decisions (they didn't take oxygen, as far as I can tell - not out of machismo, but simply because they were pioneers and it wasn't available). He lost his gloves and didn't try to cover his hands, even though they were getting frostbitten; when Lachenal wanted to go back, he said he was going on alone if need be; he spent too long on the summit taking cine film and photographs (none of which, significantly, appear in the book), even while Lachenal was exhorting him to get down before they got frostbite. They made it back down to Camp V, where two of their comrades were waiting for them, but they both had severe frostbite in their toes, and Herzog had severe frostbite in his fingers. Herzog and Lachenal had to be basically carried off the mountain by their colleagues and the Sherpas. Once they reached Base Camp, they could be seen by the expedition's medical officer. Unfortunately, everything they thought they knew about treating frostbite in 1950 subsequently turned out to be wrong, and the excruciatingly painful treatment they received (thawing their feet before they were off the mountain, arterial injections of Novocaine) was at best useless, and at worst actively harmful. But there was worse to come: since they'd spent so long in reconnaissance, the monsoon was about to arrive, and Herzog and Lachenal had to be carried back across Nepal on the backs of their coolies and Sherpas, with the doctor calling a halt every few hours to amputate another bit of finger or toe. Without anaesthetics, naturellement.
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.