Famed French mountaineer Maurice Herzog, who became the first person to scale an 8,000-meter peak in 1950, died of natural causes on Friday. Herzog, 93. climbed 26,545-foot Annapurna with Louis Lachenal, losing all of his fingers and toes in the process. Following news of Herzog’s death, President Francois Hollande said that the climb had been “engraved enduringly in our collective memory.” Herzog later wrote a best-selling book about the climb, and went on to become a member of the International Olympic Committee and the mayor of Chamonix.
Via