At around 2am, Nick Kalisz, Dutch Simpson, Jim Morrison, Tashi Sherpa, @ila_Nuru and I turned on our headlamps and started up for the summit. Temps were pretty gnarly cold 🥶but there was no wind. We had chosen early on to forego setting up at Camp 4, which enabled us to stay light on equipment. This meant our summit day would be about 4,000 feet of climbing. At home in Telluride, 4,000 feet on similar terrain would likely take less than 4 hours. At 24,000 feet, without O’s, we expected it to take 10-12 hours.
The climbing was straight-forward but difficult in terms of trail-breaking. The trail that Urkin, Paldin and Fura put in the day before was all but gone from snow drifting along the face overnight. At around 26,500 feet Jim and I realized that we were going too slow to reach the summit and make the ski descent before dark descended on the mountain. With the forecast calling for the wind to start kicking up around 2pm, we prioritized skiing over no O’s. At this point we both donned oxygen masks, the benefits being twofold: 1. our frozen bodies warmed up, and 2. we were able to move much faster over the difficult terrain of the final 1500 feet.
We were standing on the summit by 1:30pm. It took about 12 hours to get to the top. The summit was SO incredible, and we were the only people on the mountain. I don’t even know where to begin in explaining how surreal it was. I couldn’t stop looking at Everest either. It’s entirely possible that Everest is more incredible to look at from the summit of Lhotse than it is to stand atop. Despite the bad rap this peak gets in the public arena, I think it’s the most aesthetic and beautiful mountain on the planet.
In keeping with the forecast, right at 2pm the winds starting picking up and the temps dropped like a stone. It was time to get moving. On the ascent we were blown away by how filled in the Coulior was and the reality that we could very likely ski the whole 7000ft without ropes or rappels was beyond exhilarating. #Lhotse2018Story #Futurelight The North Face
This climb and ski descent is absolutely amazing to me. Thanks for taking the time to put them on Facebook and sharing them with us.
You are my hero. This is just the most incredible thing to do. One day I too shall scale mountains like you. So so inspiring.
Amazing and congratulations for submitting and big ice balls for skiing down. 😳😱
You are all inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing this phenomenal journey with us. Love and light.
Awesome, congratulations.
Amazing watching this! Congrats again!
Wow! Epic achievement!
Wow..just spectacular. Well done
Amazing!!!!
Incredible
now that is impressive! Something Ed Viestures would be proud of
Awesome!
Wow!! So great to see your posts Thx for sharing
What a view!
Thank you for posting this.
Wow, and I thought Mt. Everest 1996, Anatoli Boukreev The Climb was intense! Thank you for sharing your Adventure! Look forward to your Welcome home to Telluride! Let's have a Dinner Celebration! www.KendrasKitchen.com
Thats so awesome
Very cool 😎
YOU FREAKIN ROCK!
Straight incredible!!!!!
Ty Shults Nellie Marie Mary Anne Rudolph
On the morning of September 28th, our first morning after skiing from Camp 3 at 24,000ft, we received our much anticipated weather report (see in last pic). The info in that report would determine our actions over the next several days but most importantly, when we needed to leave for our summit attempt.
In a nutshell, the report forecasted the jet stream to start descending on the high elevations on Sep 30th. This meant that the winds would start to increase on the summit at a rather alarming rate. By the morning of Oct 1st, winds were expected to reach speeds of 40-60 km/hr and by Oct 2nd, the winds would be be at a sustained 70-80 km/hr. This was very bad news because climbing in those kinds of winds meant drastically cold temperatures and serious risk of all the snow blowing away.
Evasive action was necessary, and after a couple lengthy discussions with the whole team, we decided we had to head out the next morning. This gave us only 1 rest day at camp 2 after a fairly big effort the prior two days. Nick Kalisz had still been feeling sick and was using oxygen and taking antibiotics but had decided not to descend. He wanted to join us for the summit attempt and so we rested as best we could on the 28th and prepped for an early departure the next morning.
On Sept 29th, we set out for Camp 3 with the sunrise. We covered the 2500 feet in only 4 hours- a huge improvement from our first foray to C3. This was super helpful because it gave each of us more time to rest for the planned 12:30 am wake-up call the next morning. Jim and I had decided to attempt the climb without supplemental oxygen so we rested more than slept that night, anxious for the next day and whether or not we would be able to beat the wind to the top of Lhotse. The North Face07">#Lhotse2018Story #futurelight The North Face
My oh my the conditions that you were faced with, yet you proceeded, and were victorious! <3
Blake Fetzko
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Winner of the audience award TrentoFilmfestival
It's available on iTunes.
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Far and away my favorite climbing/mountain film ever created. And there are some dang good ones out there.
Sorry but the trailer wont play
MSR - Mountain Safety Research 😍Mount Hood shows off through the front door of Bigfoot Littlefoot Hike’s Hubba Hubba tent.
Wow! Stunning view!
Best office ever!
Winter is coming...❄️
Are you waiting for the first snowflakes?🌨
⛷ Hugo Hoff
📷 Jeremy Bernard Photography