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 (See below for details).
| Year | Event | Notes / Team |
1956
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First ascent of main summit
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On May 18th, the Swiss team of Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger became the first people to summit Lhotse.
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1965
|
First attempt on Lhotse Shar
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A Japanese expedition failed in the attempt but managed to reach 8100m.
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1979
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First ascent of Lhotse Shar
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On May 12, Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar
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1981
|
Second Ascent of Lhotse Shar
First solo ascent without the use of oxygen |
A Swiss team makes 2nd successful ascent
April 30, 1981 by Hristo Prodanov from Bulgaria |
1984
|
Third successful ascent of Lhotse Shar
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May 20th by a team from Czechoslovakia
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1996
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First female summit of Lhotse
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Chantal Mauduit becomes the first female to summit Lhotse
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1999
|
Failed traverse attempt
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A Russian team trying to become the first to summit Lhotse Middle and to traverse the three summits fails due to weather.
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2001
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First ascent of Lhotse Middle
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On May 23, 2001, the first ascent of Lhotse Middle was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Serguei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition.
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