Mt. Annapurna I Expedition

The tenth highest mountain in the world Annapurna I was the first eight-thousander to be conquered and lies 34km east of Dhaulagiri. Annapurna range stretches for 55km and is made up of a series of peaks. Between this massif and the Dhaulagiri range flows the great Kali Gandaki river which has varved what is believed to be the worlds’ deepest gorge with an eight-thousander on either side. Translated from Sanskrit, Annapurna world mean “Full of Grain” but is generally known as the “Goddess of Harvests”. This area has been well protected under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), one of the most successful conservation projects. Four other peaks in this range share the name Annapurna I, Annapurna II 7,937m, Annapurna III 7,555m, Annapurna IV 7,525m and Annapurna South 7,219m.

As the French expedition led by Maurice Herzog in 1950 had come with the intension of climbing Dhaulagiri, it took them two weeks to locate Annapurna I after they changed their plans. This was an unusual way to climb a peak in the daunting Himalayas because the mountain had remained unexplored. Finding a way to the peak they decided to climb it and pulled off a remarkable feat by ascending it on their first attempt. They climbed up the north face of the mountain and it was Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal who made it to the top on 3rd June 1950m, just before the monsoon arrived. This was a historic moment in mountaineering history as until then no human had climbed a peak over eight thousand meters in height. The first Nepali citizen to emulate this feat was Sonam Walung Sherpa on 13th October 1977.

MAXIMUM : 38 Days
ENTRY : Baglung
EXIT : Pokhara