14 EIGHT-THOUSANDERS
Lhotse 8,516 m
"If anyone was to ask me what mountain I would repeat, I would never say Lhotse. It shares the route to Everest until it reaches Camp 3, so I already knew part of the route. The final stretch is a route that doesn't let you see anything until you're almost at the summit. It's a mountain that I would not recommend to anyone."
In Everest's shadow
- Ranking: 4
- Height: 8,516 m
First ascent: on 18 May 1956, at 2.45 am Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss reached the small sharp summit after years of the mountain being ostracised because of its proximity to Everest.
The fourth highest peak in the world, at 8,516 metres, it was the first of Pasaban's challenges in 2003.
Lhotse's original Indian survey symbol was E1. In August 1921, while exploring Everest, Howard Bury couldn't find a local name in either Tibetan or Nepalese and decided to call it "South Peak" - Lhotse in Tibetan - due to its geographic location: bound by its southern pass to Everest and to the south of this.
Lhotse was ignored by mountaineers for many years due to its proximity to Everest. This meant that apart from the incursions along the south face, those climbing it were simply exploring Everest.
On 13 May 1994 Carlos Carsolio climbed Lhotse solo to achieve a world speed record for ascent: 23 hours and 50 minutes from base camp to the peak. He also became the fourth person in the world to complete "The Big five", and was the youngest to do so.
Lhotse currently has five routes on its southern faces and just one on its western face.
Peak reached by Edurne Pasaban on 26 May 2003.
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