Louis Lachenal a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 climber born in Annecy

Annecy

Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...

, Haute-Savoie

Haute-Savoie

Haute-Savoie is a French department in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. It borders both Switzerland and Italy. The capital is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges and the French entrance to the Mont...

, was one of the first two mountaineer

Mountaineer

-Sports:*Mountaineering, the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, trekking and climbing up mountains, also known as alpinism-University athletic teams and mascots:*Appalachian State Mountaineers, the athletic teams of Appalachian State University...

s to climb a summit of more than 8,000 meters. On 3 June 1950, along with Maurice Herzog

Maurice Herzog

Maurice Herzog is a French mountaineer and sports administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the expedition that first climbed a peak over 8000m, Annapurna, in 1950, and reached the summit with Louis Lachenal. Upon his return, he wrote a best-selling book about the expedition...

, he reached the summit of Annapurna I

Annapurna

Annapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....

 in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 at a height of 8,091 m (26,545 ft). Previously he had made the second ascent of the North Face of the Eiger

Eiger

The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...

 in 1947, with Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray was a French climber who made many first ascents, including Makalu in the Himalaya and Cerro Fitzroy in the Patagonian Andes ....

. He died falling into a snow-covered crevasse while skiing the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix

Chamonix

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics...

.

External links

• "Tragic Study in French Movie Tells of Victory", 1953 Life Magazine account of their victorious climb.
• "Louis Lachenal - The Star That Fell to Earth", article about his death.
• "Mountain Claims Famous Climber", Life Magazine article about his death.