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Maurice Herzog

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Maurice Herzog
Maurice Herzog Climbing Wall at International Mountain Museum, Pokhara, Nepal
Secretary of State for Youth Affairs and Sports
In office
1958–1966
PresidentCharles de Gaulle
Prime MinisterGeorges Pompidou
Preceded byRené Billères
Succeeded byFrançois Missoffe
Mayor of Chamonix
In office
1968–1977
Personal details
Born(1919-01-15)15 January 1919
Lyon, France
Died13 December 2012(2012-12-13) (aged 93)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France
PartyUNR
Spouse(s)Marie-Pierre de Cossé-Brissac (1964–1976)
Élisabeth Gamper (1976)
ChildrenLaurent, Félicité, Mathias, Sébastien
Alma materHEC Paris
OccupationMountaineer

Maurice André Raymond Herzog (French pronunciation: [mɔʁis ɑ̃dʁe ʁemɔ̃ ɛʁzɔɡ]; 15 January 1919 – 13 December 2012)[1][2][3] was a French mountaineer and administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the 1950 French Annapurna 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, Annapurna.

Ascent of Annapurna I

Main article: 1950 French Annapurna expedition

On 3 June 1950, Herzog and Louis Lachenal became the first climbers in modern history to climb a peak over 8000m when, on the 1950 French Annapurna expedition, they summited the Himalayan mountain Annapurna I, the 10th-highest mountain in the world.[4] The ascent was all the more remarkable because the peak was explored, reconnoitered and climbed all within one season; and was climbed without the use of supplemental oxygen. It is also the only 8000 meter summit that was reached at the first attempt. Herzog was awarded the 1950 Gold Medal of the Société de Géographie.[5]

The event caused a huge sensation that was only matched when Everest was summited in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

The two-week retreat from the peak proved very challenging. Both climbers had opted for light boots for the summit dash. This, combined with Herzog losing his gloves near the summit and a night spent bivouacked in a crevasse on the descent with one sleeping bag for four climbers (Lachenal, Gaston Rébuffat, Lionel Terray, and Herzog) resulted in severe frostbite, with consequent gangrene requiring the expedition doctor to perform emergency amputations in the field.[6] Both summit climbers lost all of their toes and Herzog most of his fingers.

Annapurna I was not climbed again until 1970, when the French north face route was climbed by a British Army expedition led by Colonel Henry Day, simultaneously with an ascent of the south face by an expedition led by British climber Chris Bonington. The mountain's fourth ascent was not until 1977.[7]

Book

Herzog's account of the expedition was published in French in 1951.[8] It was then translated to English by Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith in 1952.[9] The book was dictated by Herzog in an American Hospital in Neuilly, France.[10]

The book has sold over 11 million copies as of 2000, more than any other mountaineering title.[11] It is considered to be one of the most successful mountaineering books of all time and was ranked 77th in Sports Illustrated list of the top 100 sports books ever written.[10][12] In the United States it was published as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection which increased its circulation and popularity.[13]

Controversy

Some aspects of Herzog's account of the summit day have been called into question with the publication of other members’ accounts of the expedition, most significantly by a biography of Gaston Rébuffat and the posthumous publication, in 1996, of Lachenal's contemporaneous journals. In his book, Herzog says that Lachenal was a mere ghost that had to be persuaded to reach the summit, a telling that Lachenal refutes.[14] Lachenal's diary from the expedition that conflicted on many details with Herzog's accounts. However, a posthumous release of his diary created more controversy and outcry, particularly from Lachenal's family, with Herzog as editor of the book, removing any criticisms of himself.[14][15] Lachenal told another climber, Jean-Pierre Payot, that he was furious with Herzog and fed up with the way he used the Annapurna legend to further his career.[14]

The 2000 book True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent of Annapurna by David Roberts gives one view of the controversy.[11]

Personal life

Maurice was born in 1919 in Lyon, France, and was the eldest of eight children. His passion from the mountains was spurred from spending time at a chalet at the foot of the Bossons glacier that his family owned. His father, Robert Herzog, was also an avid alpinist. He studied at HEC Paris where be received his baccalaureate and did a postgraduate course in business studies which he completed in 1944.[4] He fought in the second world war in the French Alps with the Armée Secrète and Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. After the war, Herzog worked for Kléber-Colombes, a tyre manufacturing company.[16]

Herzog married Marie-Pierre de Cossé-Brissac in 1964. They had two children, Laurent and Felicité, and divorced in 1976. He remarried to Elisabeth Gamper in 1976 and had two more children, Sébastien and Mathias.[16]

Eight years after his summit of Annapurna, Herzog became French minister for youth and sport and was tasked by Charles de Gaulle with re-invigorating French sport and inspiring a new generation. In 1968 he was elected mayor of Chamonix.[16] Herzog became a member of the International Olympic Committee for 25 years starting in 1970. In 1995 he was made an honorary member[17] He was International Olympic Committee Chief of Protocol from 1975 to 1978 and was a member of several commissions.[17]

In 2011, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest civilian honor.[10]

Herzog died in 2012, aged 93. In a tribute, President François Hollande of France said Mr. Herzog’s climb was “engraved enduringly in our collective memory.”[10]

Publications

  • Herzog, Maurice (1952). Annapurna, First Conquest of an 8000-meter Peak. Translated by Nea Morin; Janet Smith. New York, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Library of Congress Catalog Card No: 52-12154. (first American printing)
  • Herzog, Maurice (1997). Annapurna. New York, New York: The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-55821-549-2. (current American edition)
  • Terray, Lionel (2000). Conquistadors of the Useless. Geoffrey Sutton (trans.). London, UK: Baton Wicks Publications. ISBN 1-898573-38-7. (current English edition - original French edition 1961)
  • Hattingh, Garth (1999). Top Climbs of the World. London, UK: New Holland Publishers, Ltd. ISBN 1-85974-085-5.
  • Roberts, David (2002). True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent of Annapurna. New York, NY, USA: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0327-5.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Maurice Herzog, la mort d'un héros d'après-guerre aux versants contrastés". Le Dauphiné Libéré. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  2. ^ "L'alpiniste et ancien ministre Maurice Herzog est mort". Le Monde.fr (in French). 14 December 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Maurice Herzog : la légende et ses failles". Le Monde.fr (in French). 13 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Maurice Herzog (HEC 1944M)". HEC France. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  5. ^ "GRANDE MÉDAILLE D'OR DES EXPLORATIONS ET VOYAGES DE DÉCOUVERTE (in French)". Société de géographie. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  6. ^ Herzog, Maurice (1997). Annapurna. New York, New York, United States: The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-55821-549-2.
  7. ^ Baume, Louis C. (1979). Sivalaya. Seattle, Washington, United States: The Mountaineers. ISBN 0-916890-71-6.
  8. ^ Roberts, David (2002). True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent of Annapurna. New York, New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. p. 226. ISBN 0-7432-0327-5.
  9. ^ Herzog, Maurice (1952). Annapurna: First Conquest of an 8000-Meter Peak. University of Alberta Libraries. New York, Dutton.
  10. ^ a b c d Weber, Bruce (15 December 2012). "Maurice Herzog, 93, Dies; Led Historic Himalaya Climb". Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  11. ^ a b Barcott, Bruce (4 June 2000). "No Room at the Top". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  12. ^ Isserman, Maurice & Weaver, Stewart (2010). Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire. Yale University Press. pp. 252–253.
  13. ^ Book-of-the-month Club advertisement, Life magazine. See bottom-center of page for Annapurna ad ca 1954.
  14. ^ a b c Webster, Paul; Paris (28 May 2000). "Phantom haunts hero of summit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  15. ^ "No Room at the Top". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  16. ^ a b c Douglas, Ed (14 December 2012). "Maurice Herzog obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Death of IOC Honorary Member Maurice Herzog". International Olympic Committee. 15 December 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
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