Lhotse Expedition

Mt. Lhotse better known as “south peak” and part of the Everest massif is the fourth highest mountain peak on the earth with an altitude of 8516m. Lhotse has 3 summits, the main summit at 8,516m, Lhotse Middle (East) at 8,414m, and Lhotse Shar at 8,383m.  Lhotse is best known for its proximity to Mt. Everest and the fact that climbers ascending the standard route on that peak spend some time on its northwest face. It is the smallest prominence, only 610m, of all 8000m peaks. Lhotse is however famous for its tremendous and dramatic south face. The south face of Lhotse raises 3.2km within a 2.25km horizontal distance making it the steepest face of this size in the world. It is an extremely difficult climb and rarely attempted. The South Face of Lhotse is one of the largest mountain faces in the world. 

The primary route on Mt. Lhotse is via Everest South Col. but by 1955, despite the activity on Mt. Everest, Lhotse was the highest unclimbed peak in the world. It was first climbed by the Swiss duo of F. Luchsinger and E.Reiss in 1956 on the West Face. A Czech though attempted many times successfully climbed the South Face of Mt. Lhotse only in 1984. On May 12, 1979, the Lhotse Shar summit was reached and the middle summit was climbed only on May 23, 2001.

Mt. Lhotse Expeditions: 

In the Expedition of Mt. Lhotse, Lhotse Base Camp is located beside the Khumbu Glacier, the same as Everest Base Camp. The section during the climb, which has been unanimously declared the most dangerous, is the Khumbu Icefall. This beautiful massif also holds immense promise as it is little developed and offers fascinating opportunities. 

Mt. Lhotse Face and Route:

• The commercial route is from its north side via Khumbu icefall sharing its length with Everest's south route. The south face is one of the most impressive walls in the Himalayas. The first expedition from the south side was Yugoslavia led by A.Kunaver. They selected the left side of the wall but they manage to only get to 8100 meters. Three Polish expeditions tried to climb through the left wall in 1985, 1987 and 1989; the highest point they reach was 8300 meters.  
• 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 wall of glacial blue ice. This face rises at 40 and 50-degree pitches with the occasional 80-degree bulges. Two rocky sections called the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur interrupt the icy ascent on the upper part of the face.
• Russian Expedition finally climbed the south face in 1990 few months after Cesen's climb. They describe the wall as impossible to be climbed by a single person.

Mt. Lhotse Expedition Service:

In the Base Camp;

• Snowy Horizon Treks & Expedition provides very professional, helpful and friendly service from Kathmandu to the ABC and during the climb. Our objective is to provide good quality, helpful, safe, friendly, stress-free and comprehensive service to maximize summit opportunities. 
• Our cooks and helpers will prepare and serve three delicious freshly cooked and plentiful meals a day and will ensure that hot and cold drinks are available 24 Hrs.
• We provide spacious expedition quality personal tents for all our clients both with full board and base-camp service. In the base camp, we also provide a dining tent, kitchen tent, toilet facilities, portable shower facilities and tent accommodation for our staff.
• We provide access to communication including satellite telephone and Internet access, solar panels to charge your batteries and UHF/VHF handheld radios on the mountain to maintain communications between ABC and high camps.
• Our Leader and camp manager as well as climbing Sherpa have an extensive experience in multiple climbs to 8000m peaks. They will ensure cooperation with other companies and the Base Camp organization. The Base Camp is a cooperative to ensure contribution from all operators to the task of route fixing to ensure the safety of climbers from ABC to the summit. 

Above Base Camp (For Full Board Service Only),

• We provide a personal tent and food with the climbing Sherpa, who will prepare appropriate meals. We also will provide a cook for the group and intermediate facility at camp 2 (6750m); this will include tents for full board clients, kitchen and dining tents and the toilet facility. We provide meals while our clients are in camp 2.
• We provide a personal climbing Sherpa guide to help the clients to reach the summit. Personal climbing Sherpa will set up camp 1, camp 3 and camp 4 including food provisions, fuel and oxygen and will guide and assist the client on the summit day. We provide the climbing Sherpa with appropriate radio communication to Camp 2 and Base Camp from Camp 3, 4 and the climbing route. 

Climbing Routes:

• Lhotse commercial route via Khumbu icefall and Northwest couloirs:
• The route is technically a strenuous climbing route with a little objective danger once past the Khumbu icefall, apart from a few crevasses and Seracs bridged by ladders, a couple of short ice cliffs around camp 3 and rock sections protected with fixed lines. There is an obvious danger of high altitude sickness complications and changeable, unpredictable mountain weather.
• The Khumbu Icefall is a steep glacier with an obvious implication of large crevasses and treacherous unstable Seracs making navigation complicated and riddled with a high objective danger of falling ice. This is the most dangerous part of the climb. At the beginning of the climbing period, climbing Sherpa set the route through the icefall installing ladders across crevasses and along vertical Seracs ice walls for efficient and easy climbing. These arrangements make the climb of the Khumbu icefall possible, efficient and relatively safe especially early morning before the sunrise when the ice structure is well frozen. Khumbu icefall is very dangerous in the afternoon due to its western aspect.
• Camp 1 (6065m) is located on the top of Khumbu icefall; it is a desolate and exposed place mainly used as a rest and transition location on the way to camp 2 (6750m). The glacier between camps 1 and 2 flattens but there are still large crevasses close to camp 1, which are also fixed with ladders.
• Camp 2 is located in a lateral moraine at the bottom of the west ridge. It is a very safe and sheltered location with tremendous views on Lhotse. All companies set-up their main climbing camp for the duration of the climbing period with tents for individual climbers, the kitchen and dining tents. Camp 2 is the main acclimatization camp and the base for camp 3-acclimatization climb and the final summit attempt.
• Camp 3 (7100m) is located on a small ledge on the Lhotse wall. One has to cross the glacier to the right side before 40 deg. 600m climb on the compact snowfield. The route is safe with a couple of short less than 3m ice cliffs, which climbing Sherpa set up with fixed ropes. 
• Camp 4 (7920m) located near South Col is the last; it is easily accessible by the majority of climbers without supplementary oxygen. There are two rock sections to navigate before camp 4: Yellow Bands, interlayer marble, phyletic and semi-schist rocks and Geneva Spur, an anvil-shaped rib of black rocks; they are again set-up with fixed ropes.
• From camp 4 the route enters 500m couloirs about 40 deg. along with a mix of pack snow, ice and some rock.