Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world : with its 8,516 meters it belongs to the famous 8000m peaks and is part of the Himalayas . Consisting of three peaks, Lhotse is directly connected to Everest via the south face but to date no one has managed to climb the two mountains at the same time. In April 2017, the great Swiss mountaineer Ueli Steck left for Nepal precisely to attempt the much-desired “linkage” from Everest to Lhotse.He would have had to cross the highest pass in the world, the famous South Col, which separates these two Nepalese giants. But something went wrong and this mountaineer passed away before realizing his greatest dream.
Lhotse: the normal aided route
The normal route of Lhotse was only equipped in 2017 , thanks to the feat of 3 mountaineers who together with a group of 7 Sherpas managed to conquer the summit. Thanks to them, 3 Italians also managed to climb the normal route, reaching the top of the fourth highest mountain in the world. Nicola Bonaiti, Sebastiano Valentini and Mario Vielmo then tackled the climb using the equipment just installed by those who arrived before them. An ascent without oxygen, which was certainly not a walk but which gave immense satisfaction to our compatriots!
Everest – Lhotse chaining: a shattered dream
The Everest – Lhotse chaining is the dream shared by many mountaineers all over the world: it was talked about a lot and just last year it seemed that this feat could be accomplished. Ueli Steck was convinced he could do it : his project was ambitious but as he had declared in an interview released shortly before his departure, he had no intention of giving up his greatest dream. So he left for Nepal, with the conviction that he could do it: go to Everest and Lhotse with a single ascent. The idea was to climb Couloir Hornbein to the top of Everest, then descend to the South Coland from here continue straight to the top of Lhotse. An ambitious project, the dream of many other climbers.
Unfortunately, however, even he did not make it and he met the same fate that has happened to many others before. Ueli Steck died on the Nupste face, near Camp 1 of Everest. The dynamics of the accident are not yet clear and Messner himself has doubts about the real intentions of this great mountaineer. In an interview, he declared that according to him Steck wanted to link all three peaks: Everest, Nupste and Lhotse. If he had succeeded, he would have accomplished what climbers call the horseshoebut unfortunately we will never know the truth. We can only remember this great alpinist, Ueli Steck, who will surely go down in history for all the other epic feats he has accomplished. As Messner himself says, this character will remain great and will be remembered as one of the best mountaineers of all time, both for his speed and for his incredible technique.
