#1 Everest
From myth to a public landfill
Ah! Everest! Theatre of the Craziest dreams, the most incredible feats, the most improbable records... But also dramas, controversies and traffic jams... Long inviolate, imagined, fantasized, the highest mountain in the world is now only a ridiculous amusement park for tourists full of aces, which pile up in front of the Hillary jump as others agglutinate in supermarkets the Saturday afternoon. Mount Everest and Mont Saint Michel: Same fight! When is the electronic toll?
At the same time, it seems that in good weather, the view from the top is worth a visit. But it is necessary, as far as possible, to focus on the horizon because if you look a little lower, you see mostly corpses and waste... According to the specialists (i.e. those whose companion of rope has collapsed before their eyes), it takes at least ten fellows to bring down a struggling mountaineer in the area of death. "Above 8000 meter
First at the top of Everest: Mallory, Hillary or both?
But back to our yaks. There are mainly two ways to reach the summit: the North face of the Tibetan side and the south face via the Nepalese slope. It's a little easier by the south but the authorities of the Nepalese government having a little late to come, a lot of explorers broke their teeth before in 1953, well helped by the progress of oxygen masks, the English expedition led by John Hunt Officially reaches the Grail with Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, eternal Heroes. I say officially because, in 1924, a duo (already British) composed of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had ignited the bar pillars of the time by flirting with the summit from the North Face. The legend even says that they might have reached it, but even the discovery of Mallory's frozen remains in 1999 has never been able to assert it...
By the Nepalese side, the ascent begins with the uncertain crossing of the ice cascade of the Khumbu, which the icefall doctors have previously equipped with aluminum ladders so that customers cross the most difficult passages like In a chair. Then, after a night of dreaming in a five-star room at Camp 1, then comes the ascent of the Combe Ouest which leads to Camp 2, at 6 500 meters. From here begins the ascent of the face of the Lhotse to Camp 3 where the fixed ropes will help you to spend a pleasant moment in our company despite the temperatures sometimes a little fresh in the morning. After crossing the "spur of the Geneva" and the "yellow Strip", you will be greeted at the South pass by our hostesses in violet combination and with dubious hygiene to spend a fresh and airy night in one of our comfort tents specially arranged for The opportunity. You can then if the weather is not too rotten, you start to assault the Summer.
On the Tibetan side, climbers will have the chance to visit six altitude camps spread over the mountain. After passing through the Rongbuk Glacier, then the northern Pass, they will be able, if they have any remaining forces, to launch their assault towards the summit from Camp 6, through the three famous jumps (Step1, step 2 and step 3) which constitute the main difficulties of The final ascent.
Everest and the record race
Once the summit was deflowered, Everest experienced a quiet period of about ten years before the "Everestmania" and the Circus of commercial expeditions were triggered. And if the legendary Reinhold Messner undoubtedly marked the mountain with his imprint by passing the first without oxygen (with Peter Habeler) in 1978 and then the first solo two years later, the ensuing record race quickly turned to Ridiculous (who even killed fairly regularly): the youngest, the oldest, the biggest, the fastest, the most handicapped, the most stupid, the most dog...
And then came the time of the tragedies... First of all, there was certainly the most famous tragedy of modern mountaineering, when, in 1996, Rob Hall, Scott Fischer and consort took their feet in the carpet after reaching the summit. But the worst was to come with a deadly avalanche first in the ice Cascade in 2014 (16 dead) then a second in 2015 at the crowded base camp, making no less than 18 casualties. As if by the time the mountain wanted to say stop...
#2 Kangchenjunga
The forgotten of the Himalayas
The one that the intimates call the "KANGCH" is the third highest peak in the world. Yes, I am. 8 586 meters! If it is a goal coveted by the convinced Himalayistes, it is not frankly possible to say that it is a privileged destination by the Mountaineers-tourists in search of 8 000... At the same time, when in a social event, you say you just climbed K2 or Annapurna, it slams! The Kangchenjunga a little less, yet it is necessary to be able to pronounce it correctly...
Boardman-Tasker in alpine style, Pierre Barnes en solo and Benoit Chamoux in arrears
What to say about this summit living in the shadow of Everest, K2, and even Annapurna yet much smaller? That he was first climbed in 1955 by George Band and Joe Brown on an expedition led by Charles Evans, until then best known for bending Tom Bourdillon's rock star career by forcing him to turn a few meters from the top Of Everest, three days before the success of Hillary and Norgay in 1953. It can also be said that he saw disappear in 1992 the Polish Wanda Rutkiewicz, certainly one of the best mountaineers in the world, but also the Frenchman Benoit Chamoux in 1995, while he was competing with Erhard Loretan to become the third Man at fourteen 8 000. The English Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker invented the light Alpine style in 1979 and Pierre Barnes made a crazy solo in 1983, a few months after the conquest of Roland Garros by Yannick Noah.
The ultimate Anecdote: In 1966, an Air India Boeing named "Kangchenjunga" crashed on Mont Blanc. 46 years later, two mountaineers came across a diplomatic suitcase from the remains of the Boeing. Amazing, isn't it?
Finally, I refer you to the story of the successful expedition by Philippe Gatta in 2011. It is so detailed that you will find the altitudes, the times of course and even its daily heart rate! Do not miss the nice reportage of lequipe.fr on Carlos Soria, this incredible Spanish mountaineer who climbed the "KANGCH" at 75 years!
#3 Lhotse
The "little brother" of Everest
As much by its size (8 516 meters, fourth highest peak) as by its geographical location, the Lhotse can be considered other than as the Siamese brother of Everest. It's very simple, they touch each other. Part of the normal route of Everest even borrows the face of the Lhotse to reach the South Pass. But for the big himlayistes, the lure comes rather from the other side, from the dreaded south face.
The first to reach the summit of the Lhotse are two Swiss people unknown to the general public: Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss. It was May 18, 1956. The first woman was the late Chantal Mauduit in 1996 and the first winter was successful in 1988 by Polish specialist Krzysztof Wielicki.
The southern face of the Lhotse, the last major problem in the Himalayas
But it is the south face of the Lhotse that gave the most trouble to the stars of mountaineering of the years 80 and that the great Reinhold Messner will describe as "the last great problem of the Himalayas". Finally, we will have to wait for 1990 for things to finally settle down with first and foremost the ultra-controversial ascent (solo) of the Slovenian Tomo Pnec. Too good to be true will think Sergey Bershov and Gennadiy Karataev coming to the top a few weeks later, supported by a big Russian team. Before this first, which was finally attributed to the Russians in front of the lack of evidence of EESC, several great mountaineers disappeared while trying their luck, as Nicolas Jaeger (first Frenchman at Everest with Jean Afanassieff and Pierre Mazeaud in 78) in 1980 or Polish Jerzy Kukuczka on 24 October 1989, victim of a rope worn a few cables from the top...
#4 Makalu
The most technical
Number five in the hierarchy of the highest peaks of the world with its 8463 meters, Monsieur Makalu is characterized by his pyramidal shape on four sides but also by the late interest that he will bear on the mountain explorers. It is necessary, in fact, to wait for 1954 to see a first American expedition attempt its famous ascent very technical.
The summit is reached the following year by a French rope composed of Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy during an expedition which, led by Jean Franco, will have the rare peculiarity of seeing all the members of the team arrive at the summit. Franco will later recount this magnificent success in an incredible title book: "Makalu".
Jean-Christophe The fault reported missing in 2006
Other French will illustrate a little later with Bernard Melt and Yannick Lord authors of a beautiful premiere on the West Pillar in 1971. In 2006, it is less fun since the formidable Jean-Christophe will be reported missing while trying the first winter solo, as part of his conquest of the fourteen 8000. The Makalu was his twelfth 8000...
#5 Oyu Cho
The Turquoise goddess
The Cho Oyu is 8201 meters above sea level, a sixth world place in the ranking of the highest peaks and a first successful in 1954 by Joseph Joechler, Herbert Tichy and Padawan Dawa Lama who, remember, had missed the summit of K2 at Fritz Wiessner in 1939 for a vague story of fear of the dark...
Before them, in 1952, the "Turquoise goddess" had served as a trial gallop to the team that was going to defeat Everest the following year. Edmund Hillary, Tom Bourdillon and George Lowe were already in the game for this expedition led by Eric Shipton. The risks of avalanche forced them, however, to give up far enough from the goal.
The Oyu Cho, 8000 the most affordable
But the Cho Oyu is mostly reputed to be the most affordable 8000 if you can say that for an 8000. Its north-west arrest seems, in fact, to be accessible to any human being showing a little goodwill. So you can program it for a family weekend, it will change you a bit of the circus of Gavarnie. Be careful anyway, an avalanche killed four Mountaineers in 1959 and it is also here that Erhard Loretan saw his friend Pierre-Alain Steiner die after a bad fall and cavalry of several days... Good... Finally, for the family weekend, it might be nice to wait for the children to be big...
From a geographical point of view, the Cho Oyu is located about twenty kilometers from Everest, on the border between Tibet and Nepal in what could be called the Manhattan, which, with many skyscrapers as famous as the Makalu, the Lhotse, the Everest Or the Nupste, does a little office of "place to be" for any mountaineer in search of high altitude.
#6 Dhaulagiri
The White Mountain
The main feature of the Dhaulagiri is that it consists of five peaks numbered from one to five and stretching from 7618 meters for the Dhaulagiri I to 8167 meters for the Dhaulagiri V, making it the seventh highest peak in the world, just behind the Cho Oyu and its 821 Ten feet.
It was the phenomenal Austrian mountaineer Kurt Diemberger who was the first to reach the summit on 13 May 1960 during an expedition led by the Swiss Max Eiselin, not too proud to show us here one of the sumptuous boots in ibex that he wore during The Ascension. Ten years before, Herzog and his band had prowled a good time in the sector before finally throwing their sights on Annapurna, judging the Dhaulagiri too risky.
Chantal cursed buried in her tent
At the end of the years 90, Dhaulagiri decided to be cruel to women as Ginette Harrison (in 1999) and Chantal Mauduit (in 1998) found death there. The body of the latter was found in her tent half-buried by a snow stream, accompanied by the Nepalese mountaineer Ang Tsering. Not very gallant Mister Dhaulagiri...
#7 Manaslu
The 8000 of the Japanese
In the years 50, the conquest of the summits of more than 8 000 is in full swing and all the great nations make it a matter of prestige. The French first defeated Annapurna, the English then offered Everest before the Italians eventually reached the top of K2. In the meantime, the MANASLU was the target of the Japanese.
No fewer than five Japanese expeditions will be organized between 1952 and 1956 to attack the eighth World Summit (8 163 meters). And it was finally on May 9th, 1956 that Toshio Imanishi came to the top with the Sherpa Gyalzen Norbu during an expedition led by Maki Yuko. As often after the conquest, the summit will be neglected for several years and it will be necessary to reach the years 70 to see Mountaineers try their luck again.
Among the most notable ascents is Reinhold Messner in 1971 (without oxygen obviously), Pierre Barnes in 1981 or Chantal Mauduit in 1996. But the one that most certainly marked the story was the one taken by Kyoko Sato who first saw women on the top of an 8 000 on May 4, 1974.
The Manaslu is also reputed to be one of the most dangerous peaks in the Himalayan chain. A first avalanche killed five members of a South Korean expedition in 1972 and more recently, in 2012, eleven mountaineers died in Camp 3, ravaged by an avalanche.
#8 Parbat Nanga
The Killer Mountain
Despite an altitude, a reasonable sum (8 125 meters), the Ninth Summit of the World is undoubtedly one of the most wicked. We no longer count the victims of the terrible bites of the one who ended up being dubbed the "Slayer Mountain". In fact, we count very well: in 2012, there were 68 deaths for 335 successes, making it the third most deadly peak in terms of percentage: 21% versus 29% for K2 and 34% for the terrifying Annapurna (source: Altissima.org).
And if among the 61 victims, one finds mostly German speakers, it is because, in the 1930s, the Germans decided that the conquest of Nanga Parbat was their business. First, there were the expeditions taken by Willi Merkl, who escrima in vain for several years to end up leaving his skin there, before his half-brother, Karl Herrligkoffer, took up the torch after the Second World War. And we will finally have to wait for 1953 for a shot of poker tempted by the phenomenal Tyrolean mountaineer Hermann Buhl, allowing the Germans to finally reach the goal.
Hermann Buhl in the legend of Nanga Parbat and mountaineering
On July 3, 1953, there is a man who is angry. The summit he dreamed so much has just been conquered by one of the Mountaineers he had selected himself, but Karl Herrligkoffer has reason to be annoyed. He expressly demanded the return of his troops to the base camp but the fiery Hermann is only in his head... He does not listen to the instructions of his expedition leader who fears the arrival of the monsoon and decides to continue to the summit with Otto Kempter. The latter, exhausted, stops around the 8000 meters but Buhl is stubborn and continues towards the summit which he ends up reaching at the cost of an effort that will remain in the annals of Mountaineering. Taken by night at the descent, the Austrian is obliged to bivouac to 8 000 meters in Dante conditions but in the early morning he can resume his descent and find his companions who were no longer waiting for him. Legendary.
The summit is thus definitively conquered but Herrligkoffer is not satiated so far. What he wants now is to tackle the most difficult of worms! The ascent by the face of the Diamir was successful in 1962 by Toni Kinshofer, Anderl Mannhardt and Siegfried Löw (who will lose his life in the descent) but remains the terrifying slope Rupal, 4500 meters of walls... The highest in the world! To succeed in such a challenge, you need a master, an ace, a Caballero... And it's good because in 1970, a young mountaineer starts to talk about him: a certain Reinhold Messner. The terrible sequel, we know: Reinhold and his brother Günther reach the summit together but Günther disappears forever during an apocalyptic descent. The film "Nanga Parbat" traces this dramatic epic that Reinhold himself told in one of his countless books: The Naked Mountain.
And as long as we talk about cinema, how not to evoke the famous film of Jean-Jacques Annaud Seven years in Tibet, taken from the book Seven Years of Adventures in Tibet written by Heinrich Harrer, mountaineer as part of an expedition on the Nanga Parbat in 1939. He was first taken prisoner by the English, before escaping in 1944 and finding refuge in Tibet where he remained for seven years. A real gold mine for Hollywood this Nanga Parbat!
#9 Annapurna
Herzog, South face and controversies
Geographically located between the Dhaulagiri and the Manaslu, Annapurna and its 8091 meters hold a place apart in the great history of mountaineering. Two main reasons for this: there is first Maurice Herzog and the famous premiere of 1950 and then there is this south face, terrible, captivating and murderous.
Annapurna 1950, the first conquest
It all began on June 3, 1950, when Maurice Herzog and Louis Duchenne came to the top of Annapurna. For the first time in the history of mountaineering, a mountain of more than 8000 meters is climbed by man. The Conquest Gate is now wide open and the other Himalayan giants will soon fall one after the other. At a time when mountaineering is above all a history of conquest and Nationalism, the feat of Herzog and Duchenne resonates throughout France as a huge victory. Paris-Match draws at 320 000 copies and Annapurna, Premier 8000 sells like buns. While Maurice Herzog became mayor of Chamonix and minister of de Gaulle struts in the light, Terray, rebuffed and especially the Duchenne remain in the shadows and rehash their resentment towards their leader blinded by his heightened nationalism and thirst for Glory.
Published for the first time in 1963, just after his death, the notebooks of the vertigo of Louis-Chenal had been widely censored by Gérard Herzog, brother of Maurice and it will have to wait for 1996 and the unsweetened version published by Editions Guérin, for having The end of the story. Gaston Rebufft also is bitter: "Ah, if Herzog instead of losing his gloves had lost the flags, as I would have been happy!... * His biography by Yves Ballu (the mountain for Amie) gives an idea of Herzog's grip on "his" Annapurna. Only Lionel Terray will give, in "The conquerors of the useless", a version of the facts roughly in tune with that of his expedition leader.
The south face of Annapurna, mythical wall
Past the period of conquests in the Himalayas, the fine flower of mountaineering is diverted from the normal ways to concentrate on more engaged and aesthetic itineraries. At Annapurna, it is the gigantic wall of the south face that is the object of all fantasies. In May 1970, the English led by the legendary Chris Bonington will succeed the first to be bereaved by the death of Ian Clough, the first victim of a face that will prove to be one of the deadliest in the Himalayas. In particular, Alex MacIntyre and Pierre Béghin will find death there.
Among the most famous ascents of the South face are the one of Nil Bohigas and Enric Lucas in 1984, which open the "way of the Catalans" in pure alpine style, that tragic of Pierre Béghin and Jean-Christophe The Fault in 1992, the first female of Wanda Rutkiewicz in 1991 or even the first successful winter in 1987 by the Poles Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer. The controversial solo of Ueli Steck in 2013 is also part of the legend of a mountain whose history has nothing to envy to Everest or K2.
#10 Shishapangma
Shishapangma, last 8 000
And the last of the class of the 8 000, here it is the Shishapangma and its 8 027 meters. It is also the last of the 8 000 to have been conquered by man. It will have taken a long wait in 1964 for a Chinese expedition to come to an end. Why such an expectation for a summit yet reputed to be easy to access?
In the history of mountaineering, the years 50 represent the Golden age of the conquest of the 8 000. Annapurna was first conquered in 1950 and the last Dhaulagiri in 1960. All (with the exception of the MANASLU, owned by the Japanese) were by Westerners and the problem is that during this auspicious period, the borders of Tibet are precisely closed to Westerners because of China's occupation of the country. The Shishapangma being the only 8 000 entirely located in Tibet, it will be necessary to wait until the beginning of the years 80 to see again people from us to try their luck.
The base camp easily accessible
With a good 4 × 4, it is possible to be deposited practically at the foot of the mountain and by the northwest slope, the ascent is akin to a vague health walk. It is even visibly quite conceivable to make the descent in the ski. Attention, a number of unlucky people, often victims of avalanches, still managed to kill themselves. This is not the case of the Polish Jerzy Kukuczka, who ended here in 1987, his famous conquest of the fourteen 8 000, becoming the second man to carry out this feat after Reinhold Messner.
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