Ice Axes and Altitude: A Brief History of Annapurna Mountaineering
Annapurna I was the first 8,000-metre peak ever summited, in 1950 — five years before Everest. The museum holds equipment from three decades of expeditions.
When Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached the summit of Annapurna I on June 3, 1950, they became the first climbers in history to stand atop an eight-thousand-metre peak — five years before Everest. That first ascent, and the decades of expeditions that followed, left a material trail across Pokhara that our collection helps preserve.
Local Hands, Global Ambition
Every major Annapurna expedition depended on Gurung and Thakali porters and high-altitude guides, whose expertise rarely made it into expedition memoirs. Our mountaineering collection is built around correcting that imbalance — pairing expedition equipment with the oral histories of the Nepali climbers who made those ascents possible.