He was sirdar on the successful 1950 French Annapurna expedition with Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal to Annapurna, the first eight-thousander to be climbed. Herzog had invited him to be in the summit team but Ang Tharkay had declined, saying his feet were starting to freeze. Herzog and Lachenal, descending from the summit, had dreadfully frostbitten feet and had to be carried down by the sherpas, including Ang Tharkay. In his 1954 memoirs he made particular mention that he was treated with friendship and equality by the French climbers. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur - the first sherpa to receive a European honour.