Overview

Overview

Lhotse stands at 8516m, making it the fourth highest mountain in the world. It is situated on the border of Tibet and Nepal. 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. Lhotse has three summits: Lhotse Main 8516m, Lhotse Shar 8383m and Lhotse Middle or East 8413m.

Sometimes Lhotse has been mistaken as the south peak of the Everest massif. No serious attention was given to a Lhotse expedition until Everest had finally been ascended. Lhotse Main was first climbed in 1956 by Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger who were part of a Swiss expedition as an alternative route towards the summit of Everest. Lhotse Shar was first climbed in 1979 by Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter by taking the SE-ridge. It was not until 2001 that Lhotse Middle was conquered by a Russian Expedition.

The Lhotse Face/Route
The western flank of Lhotse is known as the Lhotse Face. Any climber on a Nepal expedition bound for the South Col of Everest must climb this 1125m (3700ft) wall of glacial blue ice. This face rises at 40 and 50 degree pitches with the occasional 80 degree bulges. Two rocky sections called the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur interrupt the icy ascent on the upper part of the face.

The south face is one of the most impressive walls in the Himalayas. The first Lhotse expedition from the south side was a Yugoslavian team lead by A. Kunaver. They selected the left side of the wall but only manage to get to 8100m. In 1985, 1987 and 1989 three Polish expedition tried to climb the wall. The highest point they reach was 8300m. During the last expedition, Jerzy Kukuczka the second person to climb all 8000m peaks died during the attempt. Another expedition in 1989 lead by Reinhold Messner failed due to problems among the members.

In 1990 Tomo Cesen said that he climbed the wall via  the Yugoslavian route. The climb caused much controversy because many climbers didn't believe that the wall which was unclimbed by so many good climbers, was climbed by a single person. He later changed his mind claiming that he didn't reach the top but the summit ridge. However  public opinion is that he reached only about 7000 meters.

The south face was finally climbed in 1990 by a Russian expedition in Nepal a few months after Cesen's climb. They describe the wall as impossible to be climbed by a single person.