Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ONE
June 3
I N THE FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN , at 6:00 A.M. , the two men left their tent at 24,600 feet and
headed up the broad, glaciated slope, their crampons biting crisply into the hard snow
underfoot. The summit of Annapurna gleamed in the morning sun, only 1,900 feet
above them. The wind that had raged all night had died with the dawn, leaving a pier-
cing cold to rule the stillness.
For Louis Lachenal, a brilliant, impetuous mountaineer of twenty-eight, and
Maurice Herzog, three years older and the expedition leader, it had required a long
struggle that morning simply to jam their feet into frozen boots. Herzog had managed
to lace up the gaiters that covered his ankles, but Lachenal had given up trying to fasten
his. Neither man had slept a minute through the terrible night, as the gale threatened
Search WWH ::




Custom Search