Mt. Lhotes – Characteristics, Climate

Mt.Lhotse, with an altitude of 8516 meters, is the fourth highest mountain above the sea level. It is also noted as the Southern Mountain for it is only 3 kilometers away from Mt. Everest in its north. Mt.Lhotse situates at the international border between Nepal and China. The eastern Mt.Lhotse is located in Tibet while the western Mt.Lhotse is in Nepal.

Characters of Mt. Lhotse

Mt. Lhotse is mainly characterized by its precipitous and complicated topography. The giant active glaciers, frequent ice fall and snow slide made it one of the most challengeable peaks above the sea level. The section between the Mt. Lhotse Base Camp and the No.1 campsite is covered with glacier drifts with hundreds of years and large-scale glaciers. The gradient of the ice in the section between the No.3 campsite and No.4 campsite even reaches 75°. It is reported that more than 300 mountaineers sacrificed their lives here in the last half century.

Climate of Mt. Lhotse

Lhotse means green beautiful fairy lady in Tibetan. Mt. Lhotse is quite noted for its steep topography and severely complicate environment. It is covered by glaciers in different sizes and the climate here is pretty changeable. The wind speed here is relatively slower compared to that of Mt. Everest, but the precipitation here is heavier. The torrential rain and snow slide happen frequently between June and September. The extremely low temperature between November and February would even reach -60? under the influence of the northwest wind. The periods between March and May, and September and October are said to be the best seasons of Mt. Lhotse for the climate would be relatively better.

Mountaineering Routes and History of Mt. Lhotse

There is only one mountaineering route on the western slope of Mt. Lhotes so far. This route was explored by a Swiss mountaineering expedition in 1956 under the guide of A.Eggle. They climbed up to Mt. Everest and turned to the glacier groove toward Mt. Lhotse at the location with an altitude of 7800 meters on Mt. Everest. This team firstly reached the top of Mt. Lhotse on May 18th, 1956. Two other mountaineering routes on the southern slope of Mt. Lhotse have also been explored. There is no person climbed to the top of Mt. Lhotse along eastern slope of Mt. Lhotse in Tibet successfully so far.

A Chinese mountaineering expedition conquered Mt. Lhotse successfully on October 13th ,1998.