New York, 1953, 2,3,4 or 5th printing. 316 pp, 3 color photos, 25 b/w photos, 8 maps, 1 fold-out. The book is in English, with no French language anywhere. Identical to the first edition, with all the original photos and text. This copy has a bright dust jacklet and book, both Near Fine to Fine condition.
Three years before the first ascent of Mount Everest, this French expedition was successful in making the first true ascent of the first 8000 peak to be climbed.
The most popular and inspiring narrative in the literature of mountaineering, and the first to become a 'bestseller.' The story of the French team that explored Dhaulagiri, discovered the approach to Annapurna, and made the 1st ascent.
Every step taken by Herzog and his companions on this historic climb was charged with adventure – the days of travel through the Nepalese jungle, zigzagging through a wilderness of gorges and torrent streams, the preliminary exploration of the approaches to 'The Goddess of Harvests,' as the Nepalese call Annapurna, the back-breaking task of establishing a chain of camps (Base Camp at 14,750 feet, Camp 1 about 2,000 feet above, Camp 2 another 2,500 feet up, and on to Camp 5 at 24,300 feet). The summit is 26,545 feet for Americans, and 8091 meters for everybody else. Annapurna is the 10th highest of the 14 8000 m peaks.
Snow whipping into their faces; cold stiffening their clothes; the glaze of the tropical sun blinding them; their bodies and brains sluggish from fatigue and lack of oxygen -- finally, a jubilant sense of victory and then the discovery that the worst was still ahead -- a long series of mishaps during the descent which plunged the expedition almost into total disaster.
Annapurna by Maurice Herzog is one of the great adventure classics of all time. It is also an enduring tribute to the spirit of man which is indestructible and against which anything can prefail.
Translated from the French by Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith. Introduction by Eric Shipton.
