Lhotse - South Face

One of the largest alpine walls in the world, the south face of Lhotse towers over the entire trek to Everest Base Camp. Depending how one counts, it has arguably received a single true ascent to the summit, a massive effort by the soviet team of 1990, despite attempts by some of the strongest alpinists of each generation (Messner, Cassin, Gogna, Profit and many others). It has also been the site of many tragedies, including the death of one of the greatest Himalayan climbers of all time, Jerzy Kukuczka of Poland, the second man to climb all 14 8,000 meters peaks, who fell when a fixed line broke near the summit.

This image was shot from the summit of Imja Tse (also known as Island Peak) and, uniquely for Mont Blanc Lines, also shows all attempts on the face instead of just completed routes. The very disputed solo line of Tomo Cesen is also included.

Route List

Successful Ascents:

1: Japanese-Korean 2006*, Anh Chi-Young, Lee Choong-jik, Pemba Choti, Tanabe, Yamaguchi et al.

2: Soviet Pillar 1990, Bershov, Karatayev, Shevchenko et al.

3: Korean 2007, Byun, Mo, Pasang Namgyal, Um et al.

4: Czechoslowak 1984, Demjan et al.

5: Austrian 1970, Aeberli, Mayerl, Walter et al.

6: Korean 1989, Kwon Chun-Sik et al.

Attempts:

7: Japanese 1973/Cassin-Gogna 1975/Japanese 1976, Uchida et al./Cassin, Gogna et al./Uchida et al.

8: Slovenian 1981, Kenez, Matijevec, Podgornik, Stremfelj, Zaplotnik et al

9: Beghin-Profit 1990, Beghin, Profit

10: Korean 2007/2014/2017/2019/2022, Hong Sun Taek et al.

11: Polish 1985/1987/1989, Kukuczka et al.

12: International 1989, Hajzer, Lucas, Messner, Profit, Wielicki et al. 

13: Japanese 1965, Yoshikawa et al.

Disputed:

14: Cesen 1990, Cesen

Updates

May 24, 2023: Added the successful 2007 Korean ascent to the summit of Lhotse Shar (line 3).

November 12, 2023: Fixed typo on line numbers.