Mt. Annapurna I 8091m Expedition

Annapurna I Expedition was the first 8,000-metre (26,200ft) peak to be climbed. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition led by Herzog (including Lionel Terray, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Ichac, Jean Couzy, Marcel Schatz, Jacques Oudot, Francis de Noyelle), reached the summit on 3 June 1950. Ichac made a documentary of the expedition, called Victoire sur l’Annapurna. Its summit was the highest summit attained for three years, until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. (However, higher non-summit points—at least 8,500m (27,900ft)—had already been attained on Everest in the 1920s.) However, there is an argument that the 1920s attempt of Everest was successful and if this is true the 1950 Annapurna ascent would not have been the first time people had survived an ascent of an eight-thousander.

The south face of Annapurna was first climbed in 1970 by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston using supplementary oxygen, members of a British expedition led by Chris Bonington that included the alpinist Ian Clough, who was killed by a falling serac during the descent. They were, however, beaten to the second ascent of Annapurna by a matter of days by a British Army expedition led by Colonel Henry Day.

In 1978, the American Women’s Himalayan Expedition, a team led by Arlene Blum, became the first United States team to climb Annapurna I. The first summit team, composed of Vera Komarkova and Irene Miller, and Sherpas Mingma Tsering and Chewang Ringjing, reached the top at 3:30 pm on October 15, 1978. The second summit team, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz and Vera Watson, died during this climb.

In 1981 Polish expedition Zakopane Alpine Club set a new route on Annapurna I Central (8051m). Maciej Berbeka and Bogusław Probulski reached the summit on May 23, 1981. The route called Zakopiańczyków Way was recognized as the best achievement of the Himalayan season in 1981. On 3 February 1987, Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer made the first winter ascent of Annapurna I.

The first solo ascent of the south face was made in October 2007 by Slovenian climber Tomaž Humar; he climbed to the Roc Noir and then to Annapurna East (8,047m).

On 8 and 9 October 2013 Swiss climber Ueli Steck soloed the Lafaille route on the main and highest part of the face; this was his third attempt on the route and has been called “one of the most impressive Himalayan climbs in history, with Steck taking 28 hours to make the trip from Base Camp to summit and back again.