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Product Description
Product Description
The first conquest made of an 8000-metre peak occurred in June 1950, when a French team reached the summit of Annapurna. Maurice Herzog, the leader, became a national hero and his account of the expedition remains a best-selling mountaineering book. But the book left much unsaid, for far from the solidarity portrayed by Herzog, the team was riven with dissent. This volume seeks to offer the real story of the Annapurna expedition. Drawing on interviews with friends and family of the climbers, as well as books published in France, David Roberts gives the three climbers who accompanied Herzog - Lachenal, Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat - long overdue recognition for their achievement. He has also interviewed Herzog, the one survivor among the climbers, and puts his account of their climb into perspective. Finally he explains why it has taken nearly 50 years for the full story of the expedition to emerge and how the revelations will change the way we think about this victory in the mountains and the climbers who achieved it.
About the Author
David Roberts is a veteran mountaineer and the author of a dozen previous books, most recently, with Conrad Anker, The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
TRUE SUMMIT...TRULY WONDERFUL...,
By
This review is from: True Summit: What Really Happened on Maurice Herzog's First Legendary Ascent of Annapurna (Hardcover)
This book explores what may actually have happened during the 1950 French expedition to the Himalayas, which was 'led' by Maurice Herzog. This expedition was the first to summit an 8,000 meter peak, and it was the cause for much nationalist pride in post-war France."True Summit" is a very interesting read in terms of its research, as well as its historical and archival detail. Its author, David Roberts, is himself a mountaineer and has an innate understanding of the subject matter of the book, which serves to contribute to its success. I would, however, highly recommend that one first read Maurice Herzog's "Annapurna". Herzog's fascinating, first person, romanticized account of the expedition is the source for much of what is analyzed in this book. Reading it will ground readers of "True Summit" in the context out of which this book arises and will make it that much more enjoyable and comprehensible. After the ostensible summit of Annapurna (more about this in "True Summit") by Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who were aided in their harrowing descent of Annapurna by fellow expeditioners, Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat, only Maurice Herzog went on to become a national hero in France. The other three mountaineers, all of whom were more experienced and proficient, were largely ignored in what was to become a carefully orchestrated, media event around Maurice Herzog. "True Summit" attempts to set the story straight and right past wrongs. It also helps to debunk the self-serving, though gripping, sanitized account authored by expedition leader Maurice Herzog. What emerges is a more realistic picture of what may have actually transpired during that fateful, 1950 French expedition. This book ensures that the contributions of three of the main protagonists, Lachenal, Terray, and Rebuffat, all highly experienced mountaineers from the Chamonix region of France, will not be forgatten. It is a remarkable memorial to their efforts during that ground breaking expedition and well worth reading.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nit picking!,
This review is from: True Summit: What Really Happened on Maurice Herzog's First Legendary Ascent of Annapurna (Hardcover)
With a planned trek around the Annapurna circuit in November I re-read Maurice Herzogs account of the 1950 expedition. It wetted my appetite for the trip but as the Lonely Planet also recommended 'True Summit' I thought I would try it too. What a massive disappointment and I had to ask myself "why am I reading this?" So less than half way in I gave up because it was making me very angry and frankly, very bored. So much of it consisted of qoutes from the original which I had just read and did not tell me any thing new. It seemed to be nit picking about lack of details about the expedition members. I had read books about the other climbers and knew of their fame and achievements. The 1950 account did not set out to do that but give an account of the first ascent of an eight thousand metre peak. To try and re-invent the expedition, 60 years on and question style and 'heroism' from a bygone age seems a very egotistical thing to do. A waste of money..... but Herzogs account has enabled me to look forward to visiting those villages, valleys and view points with real excitement.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
TRUE SUMMIT...TRULY WONDERFUL,
By
This review is from: True Summit: What Really Happened on Maurice Herzog's First Legendary Ascent of Annapurna (Hardcover)
This book explores what may actually have happened during the 1950 French expedition to the Himalayas, which was ostensibly led by Maurice Herzog. This expedition was the first in the world to summit an 8,000 metre peak, and it was the cause of much nationalistic pride in post-war France.This work of non-fiction is a very interesting read in terms of its research, as well as its historical and archival detail. Its author is himself a mountaineer and has an innate understanding of the subject matter of the book, which contributes to its success. I would, however, highly recommend that one first read Maurice Herzog's "Annapurna", which is Herzog's first person, romanticized account of that expedition and the source for much of what is analyzed in this book. It will ground readers of "True Summit" in the context out of which this book arose and will make reading it that much more enjoyable. After the highly publicized summit of Annapurna by Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who were aided in their harrowing descent by fellow expeditioners, Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat, only Maurice Herzog went on to become a national hero in France, as a result. The other three mountaineers, all of whom were more experienced and proficient, were largely ignored in what was to become a carefully orchestrated media event around Maurice Herzog. "True Summit" attempts to set the story straight and right past wrongs. It also helps to debunk the self-serving, though gripping, sanitized account authored by expedition leader, Maurice Herzog. What emerges is a more realistic picture of what may have actually transpired during that fateful, 1950 French expedition. This book ensures that the contributions of three of the main protagonists, Lachenal, Terray, and Rebuffat, all highly experienced mountaineers from the Chamonix region of France, will not be forgotten. It is a memorial to their efforts during that historic expedition and well worth reading.
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