First Ascent of Annapurna

Date: June 3, 1950 • Location: Chitre, Nepal

Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, members of the French Annapurna expedition, became the first climbers to reach the summit of a peak higher than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) above sea level.

Maurice André Raymond Herzog was a French mountaineer and administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the 1950 French Annapurna expedition that first climbed a peak over 8000m, Annapurna, in 1950, and reached the summit with Louis Lachenal. Upon his return, he wrote a best-selling book about the expedition, Annapurna.