German climber scales Lhotse without O2, completes 13th eight-thousander
Anja Karen Blacha reaches world’s fourth-highest peak without bottled oxygen, leaving only Shishapangma to complete all 14 eight-thousanders without use of bottled oxygen
PC: Blancha's Instagram
German climber Anja Karen Blacha reached the summit of Lhotse without supplemental oxygen on Monday, completing 13 of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 metres without bottled oxygen, expedition organisers said.
Blacha, 36, summited the world’s fourth-highest mountain alongside a team from Imagine Nepal, according to expedition leader Mingma Gyalje Sherpa.
“She climbed Everest without oxygen last year, and this year she climbed Lhotse without oxygen,” Mingma told Everest Chronicle.
Blacha has now summited 13 of the 14 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen. Only Shishapangma remains.
Her summit, along with those of two climbers from Imagine Nepal, coincided with the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Lhotse. The mountain was first climbed on May 18, 1956.
Blacha climbed Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen last year, becoming the first German woman to achieve the feat. Imagine Nepal has organised her expedition.
She arrived at Lhotse Base Camp in early April and acclimatised progressively as Sherpa teams fixed ropes and opened the route through the Khumbu Icefall. After access to Camp 2 was established, she moved higher and spent nights there before the camp was fully operational. She later repeated the process at Camp 3.
At a time when mountaineering has become increasingly commercialised, Blacha adhered to a minimalist, endurance-based climbing tradition.
In 2017, she became the youngest German climber to complete the Seven Summits challenge. Two years later, she became the first German woman to climb K2.
In 2020, Blacha skied solo and unsupported from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole, becoming the youngest person to complete such a journey from a coastal starting point.
