Annapurna I - South Face

The 1970 British ascent of the south face of Annapurna I marked a watershed event in the history of Himalayan climbing: suddenly, the goal was not just to reach the summit via the easiest possible route (the first ascent happened 20 years earlier via the north face) but to deliberately tackle difficult walls because they were difficult. Another side effect of the expedition was to put its leader, a little known British climber named Chris Bonington, on the climbing map. His expeditions would become legendary.

The south face of Annapurna I, part of the horseshoe of the Annapurna Sanctuary, is a 3,000m tall monster, a series of steep buttresses and corners with no major weakness. It has seen as many beautiful ascents as tragedies, with climbers like Ian Clough, Alex MacIntyre, Pierre Béghin, Anatoli Boukreev, Iñaki Ochoa and Park Young-Seok losing their lives on its slopes.

Note that Ueli Steck's claimed 2013 ascent is not included, as a convincing case has been made he did not reach the summit. His line is very similar to the subsequent ascent by Yannick Graziani and Stéphane Benoist (line 4).

Photo by Oto Žan.

Route List

Successful Ascents:

1: Dalgwa Yeohoon, Lee Young-Jun, Park Su-Seok, Tshering Sherpa, Wangdi Sherpa et al., 2007
2: Korean Variation, Park Ju-Hwan, Park Jung-Hun, Dawa Sherpa, Dawa Tamang, Mingma Tamang et al., 1994
3: Bonington Pillar, Bonington, Haston, Whillans et al., 1970
4: Benoist-Graziani, Benoist, Graziani, 2013
5: Japanese Pillar, Aota, Yanagisawa et al., 1981
6: Polish Pillar, Szafirski, Berbeka, Probulski et al., 1981
7: Catalan Route, Bohigas, Lucas, 1984
8: Hajzer-Kukuczka, Hakzer, Kukuczka et al., 1988
9: Ochoa Route, Colibasanu, Ochoa de Olza et al., 2008
10: Graziani-Trommsdorff-Wagnon, Graziani, Trommsdorf, Wagnon, 2000
11: Loretan-Joos Traverse, Joos, Loretan et al., 1984
12: German Ridge, Obster, Schubert, Winkler et al., 1969

Attempts:

13: 1997 Korean Attempt, Lee Hak-Young, Kim Yea-Hoon et al., 1997
14: Bolotov Attempt, Bolotov et al., 1996