Celebrated French mountaineer Maurice Herzog dies at 93

PanARMENIAN.Net - Maurice Herzog, a celebrated French mountaineer who was the first person to reach the top of an 8,000-meter peak, died early Friday in France, the French presidential palace announced. He was 93, CNN reports.

Herzog and fellow climber Louis Lachenal arrived at the summit of the 8,091-meter (26,545-foot) Annapurna in the Himalayas in June 1950. They did not use oxygen masks during their ascent.

In his best-selling book "Annapurna," Herzog gives a painful account of the difficult descent, which cost him and Lachenal several fingers and toes due to frostbite. But without this expedition, Herzog said, "I would not have had the life I had after."

Back in France, Herzog, who had taken part in the resistance during the Second World War, turned his attention to politics. Under President Charles de Gaulle, Herzog became the French minister for youth and sport in 1958, and he served a mayor of Chamonix from 1966 to 1977.

Herzog's legendary status was marred in 1996 by the second publication of Lachenal's "Vertigo Notebook," which included sections omitted in the from 1956 version. The book challenged Herzog's version of events and he was criticized for stealing the glory and ignoring the fact that the ascent had truly been a team effort.

French President Francois Hollande issued a statement expressing his condolences to Herzog's family, and added that the climb was an "exploit that will remain in our collective memory."