Lhotse the facts

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Lhotse ( in China officially Lhozê; Tibetan in Wylie transliteration: lho rtse) is the fourth highest mountain on Earth & is connected to Mount Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres above sea level, Lhotse Middle (East) is 8,414 metres & Lhotse Shar is 8,383 metres. It is located at the border between China & Nepal.

Notable Features
Lhotse is best known for its proximity to Mount Everest & the fact that climbers ascending the standard route on that peak spend some time on its northwest face, see below. In fact Lhotse has one of the smallest topographic prominence values of any official eight-thousander, as it rises only 610 m (2,000 ft) above the South Col. Hence it is often seen as a minor eight-thousander.

However, Lhotse is a dramatic peak in its own right, due to its tremendous south face. This rises 3.2 km (1.98 mi) in only 2.25 km (1.4 mi) of horizontal distance, making it the steepest face of this size in the world. The south face has been the scene of many failed attempts, some notable fatalities, & a very few ascents (one of them, by Tomo Cesen, unverified).

Climbing
An early attempt on Lhotse was by the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, headed by Norman Dyhrenfurth. It also included two Austrians (cartographer Erwin Schneider & Ernst Senn) & two Swiss (Bruno Spirig & Arthur Spöhel), & was the first expedition in the Everest area to include Americans (Fred Beckey, George Bell, & Richard McGowan). The Nepalese liaison officer was Gaya Nanda Vaidya. They were accompanied by 200 local porters & several climbing Sherpas. After a brief look at the dangerous southern approaches of Lhotse Shar, they turned their attention, during September & October, to the West Cwm & the northwest face of Lhotse, on which they achieved an altitude of about 8,100 metres (26,600 ft). They were beaten back by unexpectedly strong wind & cold temperatures. Under Schneider's direction they completed the first map of the Everest area (1:50,000 photogrammetric). The expedition also made several short films covering local cultural topics, & made a number of first ascents of smaller peaks in the Khumbu region.

The main summit of Lhotse was first climbed on May 18, 1956 by the Swiss team Ernst Reiss & Fritz Luchsinger. On May 12, 1979, Zepp Maierl & Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. Lhotse Middle remained, for a long time, the highest unclimbed named point on Earth; on May 23, 2001, its first ascent was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov & 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 & 11 have died.

Timeline
1955 Attempt by the International Himalayan Expedition.
1956 First ascent of the main summit.
1965 First attempt on Lhotse Shar by a Japanese expedition - reached 8,100m.
1979 First ascent of Lhotse Shar
1981 April 30 Second ascent of the main summit by Hristo Prodanov, Bulgaria.
1981 October 16 Second ascent of Lhotse Shar Switzerland
1984 May 20 Third ascent of Lhotse Shar Czechoslovakia
1989 Jerzy Kukuczka perishes while climbing the South Face of Lhotse, when his secondhand rope breaks.
1996 Chantal Mauduit becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Lhotse.
2001 First ascent of Lhotse Middle.

Lhotse Middle
Lhotse Middle was first climbed in 2001 by three groups of Russian climbers. At the time it was the last unclimbed named eight thousand metre summit.

The 2001 climb was not the first expedition to the peak; the idea of its ascent was originated by Vladimir Bashkirov (who died in an avalanche in a 1997 expedition).

Lhotse, the 4th highest Mountain on Earth

Summit party details:

May 23 - first group: Alexey Bolotov, Sergey Timofeev, Evgeny Vinogradsky, Petr Kuznetsov
May 24 - second group: Nikolay Zilin, Gleb Sokolov (the first person to have climbed all the Lhotse peaks), Yuri Koshelenko
May 27 - third group: Vladimir Yanochkin, Viktor Volodin

Lhotse Face

Lhotse is connected to Mount Everest via the South Col.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 & 50 degree pitches with the occasional 80 degree bulges. High altitude climbing Sherpas & the lead climbers will set fixed ropes up this big wall of ice. Climbers & porters need to establish a good rhythm of front-pointing & pulling themselves up the ropes using their Jumar. Two rocky sections called the Yellow Band & the Geneva Spur interrupt the icy ascent on the upper part of the face.