Day: April 29, 2010

On one of my Everest climbs, I was told outright – “If you can’t get to camp 3 in under 5 hours, you are out.” After a discussion with my grim reaper on people skills, the logic of the statement made sense. Speed is your friend on any mountain, much less the highest in the world. The Lhotse Face is the eastern side of the world’s 4th highest mountain Lhotse, 8516m or 27,939 feet. Many climbers attempt Lhotse itself in pursuit of all 14 8000m mountains or as a difficult 8000 meter mountain. The route is identical to climbing to the South Col but takes a hard right, upwards, just above the Yellow Band to the technical and rocky summit. But the Lhotse Face is the gatekeeper to all of this.