In 1950, no mountain higher than 8,000 meters had ever been climbed. Maurice Herzog and other members of the French Alpine Club had resolved to try. Their goal was a 26,493-foot Himalayan peak called Annapurna. But unlike other climbs, which draw on the experience of prior reconnaissance, the routes up Annapurna had never been analyzed before. Herzog and his team had to locate the mountain using sketchy, crude maps, pick out a single, untried route, and go for the summit. Annapurna is the unforgettable account of this dramatic and heroic climb and its harrowing aftermath. The book also tells the nightmare of frostbite, snow blindness, and near-death experiences in the author’s descent. With grit and courage manifest on every page, Herzog's narrative is one of the great mountain-adventure stories of all time.