Annapurna is significant in that it was the first 8000-meter peak ever climbed. The 1950 first ascent via the North Face was immortalized in Maurice Herzog's book "Annapurna", the sine qua non of mountaineering literature. It took 20 years for another team to succeed on the mountain. The 1970 ascent of the South Face of Annapurna by Chris Bonington's team was a landmark in the history of mountaineering. This is a mountain that is among the most familiar of mountains, yet one that is very rarely climbed.
Annapurna IV was first climbed in 1955 by a German expedition led by Heinz Steinmetz, via the North Face and Northwest Ridge. The summit party comprised Steinmetz, Harald Biller, and Jürgen Wellenkamp. Gangapurna was first climbed in 1965 by a German expedition led by Günther Hauser, via the East Ridge. The summit party comprised 11 members of the expedition.
Annapurna is a series of peaks in the Himalaya, a 55-km-long massif whose highest point, Annapurna I, stands at 8,091 m (26,538 ft), making it the 10th-highest summit in the world and one of the 14 "eight-thousanders". It is located east of a great gorge cut through the Himalaya by the Kali Gandaki river, which separates it from the Dhaulagiri massif. Annapurna is a Sanskrit name which is translated as Goddess of the Harvests.
