Lhotse Archive - Adventure Mountain

13. February 202613. February 2026

Eight-thousander mountaineer Anja Blacha: “My identity does not depend on the mountains”

She is a strong woman. Anja Blacha reached the South Pole on skis, solo and without support. And she has already summited twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders, more than any other woman from Germany – and all of them without bottled oxygen.

The 35-year-old has even stood on Mount Everest three times: in 2017 via the Tibetan north side, with a breathing mask, in 2021 and 2025 from the Nepalese south side of the mountain, the first time with bottled oxygen from an altitude of around 8,400 meters, and four years later without a breathing mask – the first German woman to do so, by the way.

Before the start of this year’s spring climbing season in the Himalayas, Anja Blacha answered my questions.

Anja, you have climbed twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. What dominates – pride in what you have already achieved or the ambition to now complete the collection?

8. May 20258. May 2025

Rope-fixing team on Lhotse summit – rescue from Everest South Summit

Sunrise over Mount Everest and Lhotse (r.) in fall 2019 — Sunrise over Mount Everest and Lhotse (r.) – in fall 2019

The first summit success of the spring season on Lhotse, the fourth highest peak in the world, is perfect. “Lhotse summit route is officially open,” announced Nepalese operator 8K Expeditions in its Instagram story. The five-member rope-fixing team – consisting of Pasang Tenje Sherpa, Migma Dorjee Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa, Ming Dawa Sherpa and Pas Rinzi Sherpa – reached the highest point at 8,516 meters today at 5.40 pm, the company announced.

For this season, 8K Expeditions had been commissioned to secure the normal routes on Mount Everest and the neighboring Lhotse from Camp 2 (6,400 m) in the Western Cwm, the “Valley of Silence”, to the summits with ropes for all commercial teams. The Icefall Doctors are responsible for the route from base camp through the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 2.

24. May 202424. May 2024

Piotr Krzyzowski: Double ascent of Lhotse and Everest without bottled oxygen

Among the hundreds of Everest summit successes that have been reported in recent days, one stands out: Piotr Krzyzowski from Poland climbed the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse on 21 May without bottled oxygen and without a Sherpa companion.

Instead of returning to base camp, as he had actually planned before the start of the expedition, Krzyzowski climbed from the Lhotse flank to Everest South Col and then on towards the summit at 8,849 meters. On 23 May, Piotr stood on the highest point on earth, barely 48 hours after his summit success on Lhotse. Such a double ascent of these two eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen had previously only been achieved by a handful of mountaineers.

14. May 202414. May 2024

Two Mongolian climbers missing on Mount Everest

Two climbers from Mongolia are missing in the summit zone of Mount Everest. As the Nepalese newspaper My Republica reports, citing the Ministry of Tourism, members of other teams last saw the two on Monday morning local time as they were climbing towards the summit. Since then, there has been no sign of life from them. A rescue operation has been launched, it said.

7. May 202410. May 2024

Mount Everest: First summit success of the season reported from the Tibetan north side

Tibetan north side of Mount Everest (in 2005)

First the rope-fixing team, then the others. This is how commercial mountaineering on eight-thousanders usually works. Mount Everest is no exception. Today, the first summit success of the spring was reported from the highest mountain on earth.

In the morning local time, the Tibet Himalaya Expedition team, which fixed the ropes on the Tibetan north side of the mountain, reached the highest point at 8,849 meters. This was confirmed to me by Mingma Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Climbalaya, and Lukas Furtenbach, head of the Austrian company Furtenbach Adventures.