Annapurna I

Annapurna I stands at 8,091 metres, the highest point of the Annapurna massif in the Nepalese Himalaya and the tenth-highest mountain on Earth. On 3 June 1950, French alpinists Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached its summit — making it the first eight-thousander ever climbed, an achievement Herzog immortalised in his book 'Annapurna'. Despite relatively few ascents, it long held one of the highest fatality rates per summit attempt of any eight-thousander, a distinction rooted in its unpredictable avalanche faces and extreme elevation. The massif is considered sacred by the Gurung people of the surrounding valleys, woven into Hindu and animist traditions alike. Trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit or at Base Camp (4,130 m) are rewarded with a commanding panorama of the south face, most dramatic at sunrise when alpenglow ignites the glaciated flanks above the clouds.