Mt. Lhotse stands at 8516m, making it the fourth highest mountain in the world. It is situated at 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 mistakenly Lhotse has been identified as the south peak of the Everest massif. No serious attention was given to climbing Lhotse until Everest had finally been ascended. Lhotse first climbed in 1956 as an alternative route towards the summit of Everest. Lhotse Main was first climbed in 1956 by Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger who were part of a Swiss expedition. Lhotse Shar was first climbed on December 5, 1979 by Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter by taking the SE-ridge. It was not until 2001 that Lhotse Middle was conquered by the Russian Expedition
|