Annapurna is the series of more than 30 mountain peaks extending about 55 km with the highest point, Annapurna I standing at 8091m in altitude making it tenth highest mountain in the world. It is located in the east of a great valley cutting through the Himalayas by the Kali Gandaki River, which separates it from the Dhaulagiri massif that lies only 34 km west. Annapurna I was the first 8,000m peak climbed by a French Expedition led by Maurice Herzog, who reached the summit on 3 June 1950. This was a historic moment in mountaineering history as until then, no human had climbed a peak over eight thousand meters in height. The first Nepali citizen to emulate this feat was Sonam Walung Sherpa on 13th October 1977. This is a mountain that is among the most familiar of mountains, yet one that is very rarely climbed.

Annapurna in Sanskrit literally means “full of food” but is normally translated as ‘Goddess of the Harvests’. For Hindu, Annapurna is “the universal and timeless kitchen-goddess, the mother who feeds and prevents starvation, a universal fear, which makes Annapurna a universal goddess, associated with the giving of food (wealth). This led her in time to be transformed into Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth with the most popular shrine located in Kashi, on the banks of river Ganga. The Annapurna Conservation Area is home to several world-class treks, including the Annapurna Circuit, so the Annapurna Expedition has additional benefits of occurring in an extremely spectacular setting, however Annapurna peaks are also the world’s most dangerous mountains to climb.