”first, the north-west ridge, and it is on this ridge that, in theory, we ought to launch our first attack. Secondly there is the west glacier of Annapurna – it looks as if we ought to be able to follow a couloir from it up to the spur with the main ridge” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna). Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander did climb the couloir in 1985, reaching the summit via the long summit ridge.