Mt. Lhotse

Lhotse first climbed in 1956
as an alternative route towards the summit
of Everest.

Mt. Lhotse

Introduction to Lhotse
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the Himalayas. Its long east-west crest is located immediately south of Mount Everest, and the summits of the two mountains are connected by the South Col, a vertical ridge that never drops below 8,000m.

Sometimes mistakenly Lhotse has been identified as the south peak of the Everest massif. No serious attention was turned to climbing Lhotse until Everest had finally been ascended. Lhotse first climbed in 1956 as an alternative route towards the summit of Everest.

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In addition to the main summit, there are two subsidiary peaks, Lhotse Shar, which is immediately east of the main summit, and Nuptse, a high peak on the mountain's west ridge.

Lhotse Face
The western flank of Lhotse is known as the Lhotse Face. Any climber bound for the South Col on Everest must climb this 1,125m (3,700ft) wall of glacial blue ice. This face rises at 40 and 50 degree pitches with the occasional 80 degree bulges. High altitude climbing Sherpas and the lead climbers will set fixed ropes up this big wall of ice. Climbers and porters need to establish a good rhythm of front-pointing and pulling themselves up the ropes using their jumar. Two rocky sections called the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur interrupt the icy ascent on the upper part of the face.

Climbing Attempts at Lhotse
Lhotse (main) was first climbed on May 18, 1956 by the Swiss team Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger. On May 12, 1979, Zepp Maierl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. On May 23, 2001, the first ascent of Lhotse Middle was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition. On 31 December 1988, Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse. As of October 2003, 243 climbers have summitted Lhotse and 11 have died.