Louis Lachenal, Mountaineer.

[Dirge]

I have a search set up on the local auction site and it repeatedly brings up a book: 'Annapurna, The First 8000m Peak' by Maurice Herzog. I've been idly deleting it for ages but today I actually started wondering why a Lachenal search should bring this up and clicked the link. This is the write-up:

 

"In 1950, no mountain higher than 8,000 meters had ever been climbed. Maurice Herzog and other members of the French Alpine Club had resolved to try. Their goal was a 26,493-foot Himalayan peak called Annapurna. But unlike other climbs, which draw on the experience of prior reconnaissance, the routes up Annapurna had never been analyzed before. Herzog and his team had to locate the mountain using sketchy, crude maps, pick out a single, untried route, and go for the summit. Annapurna is the unforgettable account of this dramatic and heroic climb, and of its harrowing aftermath. Although Herzog and his comrade Louis Lachenal reached the mountain's summit, their descent was a nightmare of frostbite, snow blindness, and near death. With grit and courage manifest on every page, Herzog's narrative is one of the great mountain-adventure stories of all time."

 

Any connexion do we think?

[Ransom]

http://www.concertina.com/chambers/lachenal-part1/ says our Louis L. is "(c. 1821-1861)", and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lachenal says the intrepid mountaineer was (17 July 1921 – 25 November 1955). So nothing closer than grandfather.

[Dirge]

http://www.concertina.com/chambers/lachenal-part1/ says our Louis L. is "(c. 1821-1861)", and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lachenal says the intrepid mountaineer was (17 July 1921 – 25 November 1955). So nothing closer than grandfather.

I'd worked that much out. Just wondered if he might have been named after the concertina maker? But I suppose Louis is a common Fr name.

Edited November 12, 2011 by Dirge

[Nisse]

http://www.concertina.com/chambers/lachenal-part1/ says our Louis L. is "(c. 1821-1861)", and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lachenal says the intrepid mountaineer was (17 July 1921 25 November 1955). So nothing closer than grandfather.

I'd worked that much out. Just wondered if he might have been named after the concertina maker? But I suppose Louis is a common Fr name.

At that time, Louis was a very common name in France yes, in top 10 I would say, more than 11000 men born in 1921 were named Louis. Coming back on the market in the recents years too.

But I do not think they were related, since the first one lived in London and the other in Annecy. They did not travel that much at the time...

Edited November 14, 2011 by Nisse

[david fabre]

Yes Louis Lachenal was a famous alpinist, from the golden age of french alpinism (along with other legends like Gaston Rebuffat, Lionel Terray, etc...)

 

 

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lachenal

 

I've known him long before learning that his family (?) was also involved in concertina making !