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Maurice Herzog Dead at age 93: "Maurice Your Hands"
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 161
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OP
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 161 |
Just read that Maurice Herzog died. For those of you not familiar with his name, he was the leader of the French Climbing Expedition that climbed Annapurna in 1950. This was the lst climb of an 8,000 meter peak and was 3 years prior to Everest.
His book Annapurna is an excellent read and follows Herzog and Louis Lachenal as they reach the summit and almost die on the descent until they are saved by fellow team members Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat when all are forced to spend the night on the Mt. Terray's words in the quote above are when he is shocked to see that Herzog's hands are frozen solid. He eventually lost all his toes and most of his fingers. I highly recommend this book and am saddened by his death as growing up as a teenager Herzog was one of my heros.
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Re: Maurice Herzog Dead at age 93: "Maurice Your Hands"
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213 |
I am not attracted to quotes nearly so much as our Harvey Lankford, but the last line in "Annapurna" (which I read YEARS ago) has stuck with me my whole life: "There are other Annapurnas in the lives of men."
(And I just KNOW that Dr. Langford CERTAINLY has that in his collection.)
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Re: Maurice Herzog Dead at age 93: "Maurice Your Hands"
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,037 Likes: 6
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,037 Likes: 6 |
of course I do, thanks !
am sitting in LAS airport after climbing Mt Baldy yesterday in winter conditions with the Shin 300th group. headed home I have my quotes collection on this Nexus device in my hands and would be happy to find another quote for the occasion, but it is very cumbersome for my slow fingers and brain to get it posted here. sorry. Harvey
edit: back on my desktop now I have it odd, no other Herzog quotes in my 3000+. I must read the book again! the only thing I found was this astonishing fact:
Not only Herzog and Lachenal the first to climb an 8,000 meter summit, they had done so on the first attempt, on a mountain never before even reconnoitered. Isserman & Weaver, Fallen Giants, page 249
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Re: Maurice Herzog Dead at age 93: "Maurice Your Hands"
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 129
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 129 |
Many thanks, Ernie. I dusted off the book that has been on my shelf for 40 years, and finally read it. Finished it this morning. What a treasure! A gripping account of expeditioneering and exploration during the golden age of mountaineering.
We think we're so good, but those guys were real mountaineers. They endured abominable conditions with gear nothing like what we have nowadays. I am aware of the controversy surrounding his (alleged) distorting the contribution of other team members, but that cannot change the bottom line. They performed admirably. They were real mountaineers.
I would rather have lived then.
Last edited by Bob R; 02/02/13 05:57 AM. Reason: Actually I did, but I didn't get into expeditionary climbing until 25 years later.
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Re: Maurice Herzog Dead at age 93: "Maurice Your Hands"
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 659
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 659 |
No offense to the departed, and what Herzog accomplished was extraordinary, but his story is ... his story. If you believe what others say, he ruled this expedition with an iron fist, essentially imposed a gag order on others, and things were not as cohesive as he'd have the reader believe. See, e.g., http://www.amazon.com/True-Summit-Happened-Legendary-Annapurna/dp/0684867575 and http://forward.com/articles/164035/confronting-father-s-mountain-of-exaggerations/?p=allI started Lionel Terray's Conquistadors of the Useless earlier this month but, unfortunately, have gotten a little stuck, and haven't made it to that part of the book yet.
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