Sixty-nine years ago today, the pioneering French alpinist and ski instructor Louis Lachenal died in a crevasse in the Alps. Lachenal was one of the first two mountaineers in the world to summit an 8,000m peak. That was Annapurna I in 1950.
Lachenal was born on July 17, 1921, in Annecy, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France. His love of mountaineering started early. In his early 20s, he became a mountaineering and ski instructor and a guide in Chamonix.
Aiguille Verte. Photo: John Johnston
Lachenal started climbing with Lionel Terray in the summer of 1945. They had met that spring when Terray passed through Annecy. As he strolled through town, he was approached by a poorly dressed young man who asked him, ”Aren’t you Lionel Terray?”
Terray said yes, and Lachenal introduced himself. Terray then remembered that he had heard of Lachenal’s exceptional climbing skills from some friends. The two men went for beer together, and thus, an exceptional climbing duo began. That July, Lachenal and Terray climbed the 4,122m Aiguille Verte.
Lionel Terray and Louis Lachenal. Photo: Lionel Terray
The following year, they made the fourth ascent of the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses. During the ascent, the two climbers became lost in bad weather and traversed too far to the right of the ridgeline. According to the American Alpine Journal, Lachenal and Terray were then forced into the difficult and dangerous couloir high on the face. It became known as the Terray Escape. Because of the treacherous unstable rock, it was a very narrow escape.
The North Face of the Eiger. Photo: Terra3
In 1947, Lachenal made the second ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, again with Terray, who was now his regular climbing partner.
Annapurna I
Maurice Herzog invited Lachenal on his 1950 Himalayan expedition. The original objective of the French expedition was an unspecified 8,000’er. According to Adam Carter in the American Alpine Journal, this greatly limited their choice of mountain. At the time, nearly all 8,000m peaks were out of bounds because of the India-Pakistan war in Kashmir and the Chinese Communist presence in Tibet.
Annapurna’s north side. Photo: Gelje Sherpa
Eventually, the French received permission to enter Nepal and attempt either 7,134m Gaurishankar or to follow the Krishna Gandaki Valley and try 8,167m Dhaulagiri I or 8,091m Annapurna I. The French stuck with their 8,000m plan and had the two peaks to choose from.
Herzog’s team included Jean Couzy, photographer Marcel Ichac, Louis Lachenal, Jacques Oudot (team doctor), Gaston Rebuffat, Marcel Schatz, Lionel Terray, and eight sherpas — Ajiba Sherpa, Ang Dawa Sherpa, Ang Tshering Sherpa, Ang Tharkay Sherpa, Dawa Thondup, Ila, Phu Tharkey, and Sarki Sherpa.
Dhaulagiri I discarded
By 1950, only one party had apparently attempted Dhaulagiri I, an American group the year before. However, The Himalayan Database noted that this had just been a rumored attempt.
Herzog’s team eventually discarded Dhaulagiri I because they could not find a feasible route. They only reconnoitered the Southeast Ridge and the North Side. So in the end, they headed to Annapurna I. No one had attempted it before.
From left to right: Lachenal, Oudot, Rebuffat, Herzog, and Schatz. Photo: Maurice Herzog
They arrived at Annapurna’s Base Camp on May 18. Despite the initial shock of how imposing the giant peak looked, they gamely started climbing its northern slopes. They did not have much time before the monsoon. After making it up to 6,000m on the Northwest Spur, the French finally opted for the North Face.
The North Face of Annapurna I from Camp 1. Photo: Samuli Mansikka via Mark Horrell
On June 3, Herzog and Lachenal summited Annapurna I without supplemental oxygen and became the first alpinists in history to climb an 8,000’er. Lachenal was about to give up during the push but finally decided to accompany the determined Herzog to the top.
On the summit, Herzog lost his gloves when he took them off to take photos. They spent one hour on the summit. A storm was approaching, and a nervous Lachenal urged Herzog to descend. Herzog refused to hurry down, so Lachenal started to go down alone. Eventually, Herzog followed.
Maurice Herzog’s summit photo. Photo: Louis Lachenal
Descent and frostbite
Both suffered severe frostbite during their dramatic descent. Terray and Rebuffat were waiting for them at Camp 5 at 7,500m. In the bad weather, they had no visibility and had to bivouac in a crevasse, all four in one sleeping bag.
Finally, they made it back to Base Camp. Herzog later lost both his fingers and toes; Lachenal’s toes were amputated as well.
A sherpa carries Maurice Herzog down Annapurna. Photo: Alpinismus, Munich via Mark Horrell
The Annapurna expedition had its controversies, both among the mountaineers who were there and in the climbing community at large. Some doubted that the French had summited at all.
Accident
Lachenal died at the age of 34, five years after Annapurna. On November 25, 1955, Lachenal was skiing in the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix with Jean-Pierre Payot when Lachenal fell into a crevasse and died immediately. The next day, Lachenal’s friends and some guides retrieved his body from the deep crevasse.
Lionel Terray carries Louis Lachenal at the Orly Airport in France. Photo: Maurice Herzog
Later, 3,613m Point Lachenal in the Mont Blanc Massif was named after him. ”The mountains were not my weekend hobby, they were my entire life,” he said once.
Louis Lachenal’s grave in the cemetery at Chamonix. Photo: Paul Gilewski
