Lhotse was first climbed in 1956 by Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger.
At 8,516 metres, Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain on Earth. Its name means “South Peak” in Tibetan, reflecting its position immediately south of Mount Everest. The two mountains are connected by the South Col, and their normal routes share part of the approach through Everest’s Khumbu region.
Reiss and Luchsinger, members of a Swiss expedition, reached Lhotse’s main summit on 18 May 1956. The mountain’s immense south face remained unclimbed for decades afterward and became one of the great technical challenges of Himalayan mountaineering.
Lhotse is sometimes mistaken for a secondary summit of Everest because of their proximity, but it is an independent mountain with its own summit and elevation. Lhotse Middle, a subsidiary summit, was only climbed later, in 2001.