The ascents of Lhotse

Lhotse 8851m

The mighty upper section of the South Face of Lhotse photo Ian Wall

Lhotse, the immediate neighbour to Everest and joined to the latter via the South Col, is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8516m. Lhotse has two lesser peaks within its own group, Lhotse East 8414m and Lhotse Shar 8383m.

Approaching Camp 3 on Lhotse photo Billi Brieling

With such a significant neighbor Lhotse did not receive serious attention as it was considered the south peak

of Everest, however in 1955 an expedition lead by Norman Dyhrenfurth mounted an early attempt. Initially the expedition was to climb from the southern side, but, upon closer inspection it was conceded that it was too dangerous and they turned their attention to the northwest face approaching from the Western Cwm. The weather was not in their favour that season and the expedition was beaten back by sub-zero temperatures and strong winds at 8100m, however the expedition did not leave empty handed, they climbed several smaller peaks in the area and made several short cultural films. They also completed the first detailed map of the region under expedition member and cartographer Erwin Schneider, this map, the ‘Schneider Map’ is still in use today.

The Swiss had been very active in the area having made an attempt on Everest in 1952 and it was they who then made the first ascent of Lhotse on May 8^th 1956. The significant point of this summit climb is that Fritz Luchsinger, a member of the summit team along with Ernst Reiss, suffered from severe appendicitis during the march in and had to rest and recuperate in a room provided by the Lama of Tengboche Monastery. It was not until the 12^th May 1970 that Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. In 2012 Sepp Mayerl who made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar in 1970 was tragically killed while ascending a climb in the Dolomites.

The summit of Everest behind the impressive south face of Lhotse photo Ian Wall

In 1965 a Japanese expedition reached 8100m before they were forced to retreat.  In 1973 the Japanese sent an expedition to the south face but they were also unsuccessful. A German expedition lead by Dr G Schmatz made the second ascent of the main summit in 1977. In 1979 the Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka made the first ascent without supplementary oxygen. In 1981 Alex Kunaver, an old friend of the Nepal Mountaineering Association completed an ascent of the South Face along with Vanja Matijevec and Francek Knez, however they did not actually summit Lhotse.

The third ascent of Lhotse was accomplished on 30^th April 1981 by Hristo Prodanov from Bulgaria who summated solo and without supplementary oxygen. On the 16^th October Colin Molines from Switzerland made the second ascent of Lhotse Shar. The South Face of Lhotse Shar was climbed by a Czechoslovak expedition lead by Ivan Galfy over May 21^st and 22^nd May 1984. Reinhold Messner completed his fourteen 8000 metre peak project with an ascent of Lhotse in 1986 and in so doing became the first mountaineer to climb all of the 8000m mountains. In 1987 the first Brazilian, Otto W Gerstenberger Junior along with Haans Singera from Switzerland complete a successful summit bid. On the 31^st December 1988 Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse.

Looking up the Lhotse Couloir photo Billi Brieling

On October 24^th 1989 Jerzy Kukuczka died attempting to climb the unclimbed South Face of Lhotse. According to Ryszard Pawlowski, Kukuczka's climbing partner on the day, Jerzy was leading a pitch at an altitude of about 8,200 meters on a 6 mm second-hand rope that he had picked up in a market in Kathmandu, the main single rope used by the team was too jammed to be used and the climbers decided to use this hauling rope instead, the rope was either cut or snapped as a result of the fall, plunging Kukuczka to his death.

On April 24^th 1990 Tomo Česen from Slovina made the first solo ascent of the South Face of Lhotse. He also claimed a number of other notable mountaineering achievements, but some of his claimed ascents have often met with scepticism from others in the mountaineering community, including the USSR Himalayan expedition who claimed his Lhotse climb was impossible. However, on the 16^th October 1990 the first ascent of South Face was made by the USSR Himalayan expedition members Sergey Bershov and Gennadiy Karataev. 

Beginning the descent of the Lhotse Couloir photo Billi Brieling

By 1994 records were being claimed and on the 13^th May Carlos Carsolio claimed a record time of 23hours 50minutes for the ascent and descent of Lhotse Base Camp to Base Camp. Chantal Mauduit became the first woman to reach the summit in 1994. Finally in 2001 Lhotse Middle Peak was climbed by a Russian expedition. It is regarded as the last of the 8000m peaks to be climbed and the most difficult. The summit teams were on May 23^rd the first group comprised of Alexey Bolotov, Sergey Timofeev, Evgeny Vinogradsky, Petr Kuznetsov, on the 24^th May, Nikolay Zilin, Gleb Sokolov (the first person to have climbed all the Lhotse peaks), Yuri Koshelenko and on the 27^th May Vladimir Yanochkin, Viktor Volodin.

The south face of the 'Everest Horseshoe', Everest and Lhotse at sunset photo Ian Wall

In 2007 Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepali mountaineer and two-time summiteer of Everest, fell to her death

from Lhotse at 8000m. Pemba was regarded as a national heroine and was accorded full honours at her funeral. Pemba had reached the summit and was descending the ‘Lhotse Couloir’, Sange Sherpa her climbing partner was descending in front and Pemba dropped back, Sange thought she wanted a rest stop so continued slightly lower. He heard her cry then she fell on top of him and they both fell down the couloir.

Pemba Dolma on the summit of Lhotse image Blair Falahey

Sange hit two discarded oxygen bottles frozen into the ice near to where Blair Falahey and his sherpa Palden Namgay where descending after their successful summit bid.  Falahey and Namgay managed to grab Sange and prevented him falling any further but sadly Pemba continued to her death.

The American guide Michael Horst summated both Everest and Lhotse without descending below the South Col camp and with less than 21hours between both summits on the 14^th – 15^th May 2011. Also on May 20^th 2011 Arjun Vajpal became the youngest mountaineer to summit aged 17years 11mounths and 16days.

Since its first ascent Lhotse has had 604 ascents of which 167 were made by Nepalese mountaineers.

The Cost of Celebrations

Why do we put so much emphasis on celebration auspicious mountaineering events?

Nepal is the home of the most formidable mountain range in the world with nearly a third of the country laying at an elevation of over 3500metres. Not only does the highest peak on earth, Everest, fall within the Nepalese territory but so do Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna, eight of the fourteen 8000metre peaks of the world. These are the mountain jewels in Nepal’s crown.

Nepal has an extensive history of mountaineering with the early explorers being lured into the deep valleys and lofty peaks by the challenges of untrodden summits. Nepal is known around the world for the mountaineering opportunities that it offers, and has always offered those with an adventurous spirit. But undertaking a mountaineering expedition back then was a totally different experience to that of undertaking an expedition today.

Celebrating the first ascents of these lofty summits is as much about recognizing and celebrating the endeavours of the men who first stood on the peaks as it is about the mountains themselves. At the time mountaineers did not fully understand the effects that gaining altitude has on the human body, neither did they know what mountaineering challenges lay ahead of them, nobody had been there before, these early pioneers were literally going into the unknown. By today’s standards the equipment they used and the style that they adopted to reach the summits were rudimentary, however, they believed they had the best that was available at the time. Many men made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuance of their dream and at the time many nations committed large sums of money in support of the adventure.

So why is it important in the 21^st century to celebrate these achievements? Apart from recognizing the contributions that these men made to the history of mountaineering, they also put Nepal on the map and for the first time in history Nepal became a household name. Not only is it important to celebrate the event but these expeditions are also part of Nepal’s modern history. Being the home to the Himalaya the young people and mountaineers of not only today but also in the future need to understand, remember and value these auspicious events and recognise that they have had a significant impact on the world and also on the Nepalese nation. 

By holding such significant celebrations when important personalities are invited to Nepal the Nepal Mountaineering Association attracts media attention and is thus promoting Nepal, as a mountaineering destination. It is reminding the young mountaineers of their roots and the history of not only their sport but of their mountains. 

Should we continue to hold these celebrations of first major mountaineering ascents? 

Definitely!

Annapurna 3 June 1950 Maurice Hertzog French

Everest 29 May 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Ed Hillary Nepalese and New Zealand on a British expedition

Cho Oyu 19 October 1954 Josepg Joechler, Pasang Dawa Lama nad Herbert Tichy Austrian expedition

Makalu 15 May 1955 Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray French French expedition

Kanchenjunga 25 May 1955 George Band Joe Brown British expedition

 

Manaslu 9 May 1956 Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu Japanese expedition

Lhotse 18 May 1956 Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss Swiss expedition

 

Dhaulgiri 13 May 1960 Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener Nawang Dorjie, Nima Dorje, Ernst Forrer, and Albin Schelbert Swiss - Austrian expedition