Annapurna I 8091 M

Annapurna I is at best a shapeless mound of a mountain and its distinction as the tenth highest mountain in the world isn't all that noteworthy either. However, Annapurna is where legends are made. First climbed in 1950 by Maurice Herzog's French expedition, it was the first of the eight thousander to be knocked off. Following that first, the book Herzog wrote recounting the experiences of that expedition is the highest selling mountaineering book of all time. If that were not enough, Herzog's pompousness in 'Annapurna' was the inspiration for the most popular mountaineering parody novel of all times, 'The Ascent of Rum Doodle'. 'Anna' means food and 'purna' means complete. Annapurna is a sanskrit word and it means 'giver of food and nourishment'. Despite it's beautiful name the mountain isn't exactly beautiful when compared to other better looking mountains in the range. But despite its rather non-striking looks, Annapurna I, is highly respected among climbers. Part of the respect surely comes the fact that this mountain has the highest fatality rate of all with one death for every two summits. The rest of the respect perhaps comes from the following assessment of Annapurna: "People say that Annapurna is dangerous from the north, dangerous and difficult from the northwest, and steep, dangerous, and difficult from the south." Thus, when Chris Bonington's lads knocked off the south face in 1970, it caused a major sensation in the mountaineering community and is still celebrated as one of the worthier climbs. In 2013 however, this feat was put to shame by Ueli Steck who did the south face solo in 28 hours. And that is a feat that will be celebrated as one of the greatest climbs for a long time from now. However, remember that where legends are made, many fall. Of the 61 that have been claimed by the mountain, one of them deserves special mention. Anatoli Boukreev, a Kazakh mountaineer famous for rescuing 3 climbers in the disastrous 1996 Everest season, lays buried somewhere in Annapurna's south face. A chorten dedicated to him at ABC reads, "Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion."