Annapurna: For Every Three Who Summited, One Died

On 3 June 1950, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached the summit of Annapurna I, the first eight-thousander ever climbed. Both paid with their toes, and Herzog with his fingers. The mountain would go on to carry the heaviest record of any of the fourteen: roughly one death for every three summiteers. But the figure is not fixed. It stands at 57 deaths to 38 ascents in 2000, 32 percent in 2012, and 75 deaths from 559 ascents as of February 2025. This film follows that number through time, from Clough in 1970 to the Korean team of 1991, Boukreev in 1997 and the 2023 season, and asks who paid for each summit, and what the ratio does and does not tell us. CHAPTERS 0:00 Two O'Clock at 8,091 Metres 1:16 The Oath Before Departure 5:14 A Flag and Its Price 5:33 Whillans and Haston Keep Going 7:31 Camp Four Under the Avalanches 9:23 The Cornice Above the Couloir 14:03 Stranded Without Oxygen 19:46 The Gloves Slide Away #Annapurna #Mountaineering #Himalaya