Expeditions • Annapurna

Annapurna (8091m), in Nepal, was in 1950 the first "8000" ever reached : it was the achievement of a very strong French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. The ascent of the South Face in 1970 by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston marked a new area of Himalayan big wall climbing. High on the wall is a rock barrier up the front of which a prominent groove winks at any climber though the 1970 expedition avoided this by skirting it on its left. In 1993, Catherine Destivelle and Erik Decamp made an attempt on the face with this groove in mind but got repulsed below it.