Dhaulagiri

Introduction

Dhaulagiri (8172m) means 'white mountain', no more and no less than the one between Courmayeur and Chamonix. It is no coincidence that when it came to climbing the first eight-thousand metre peak in history, a patrol of great French mountaineers thought of this very peak, whose name is so symbolically analogous to that mountain that had in fact sanctioned the birth of modern mountaineering.

Description

It was in 1950 when Lucien Devies, Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal, Lionel Terray, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Schatz, Jean Couzy, Marcel Ichac, Jacques Oudot and Francis de Noyelle set off. They split up into several groups in order to find the best route, but they were unable to solve their problem: all that remained of them was a name on the maps: the 'Pass of the French' at an altitude of 5200 m and the intuition of what could be the right route to take: the NE ridge. They consoled themselves by climbing Annapurna, which is only 34 km away from Dhaulagiri, and still achieved their goal of being the first to conquer the summit of an eight-thousand metre peak.
 Since that fateful 1950, other expeditions attempted their chance, especially from the north side, "bumping" against an arduous terrain configuration that was called "the pear". In 1954, the first illustrious victim was counted: the Argentine expedition leader Francisco Ibañez, who died of frostbite on the day a telegram announced the birth of his son.
 Ten years after the French exploration, it was an international pool that carried out the ascent: eight Swiss, one Swiss-American, one German, one Austrian and two Poles. The unorthodox system of a small plane was used to transport material and climbers to altitude. Suddenly finding themselves at 5100 m caused acclimatisation problems for some, while others flew up to 5700 m. After 16 missions, the aircraft crashed, with no consequences for the occupants. On 13 May 1960, the Austrian Diemberger, the German Diener, the Swiss Forrer and Schelbert and the Sherpas Nima Dorjee and Nawang Dorjee reached the summit without oxygen. Ten days later, the Swiss climbers Weber and Vaucher completed the first repeat. It was called the 'expedition of thirteen', because there were so many mountaineers on it, reaching the summit of the thirteenth of the eight-thousanders on Friday the 13th (almost 1 p.m.).

 Other dates

•  First of the SE ridge made by the Japanese Noboru Yamada
•  First of the SO pillar made by the French Pierre Béghin (alpine style)
•  1982 First NO ridge made by Japanese Noboru Yamada
•  First winter ascent of the normal (NE spur) by Poles Kukuczka and Czok
•  1987 First women to reach the summit Americans Calhoun and Grissom

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Information

Quota: 8167m
Alternative name: -
Mountain group: Dhaulagiri Himal
 First ascent: 13/05/1960
 First ascentionists:Max Eiselin, Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nyima Dorji and Nawang Dorji
First winter ascent: 21/01/1985
 First ascenders:Jerzy Kukuczka and Andrzej Czok

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