Full English version available

Illustrated

The mountaineering story of the Lhotse – the legendary Himalayan Mountain that commanded the involvement of the best mountaineers of all times – told with great skill and a wealth of details.

 

“It’s the most challenging face of the fourteen 8,000-metre-tall mountains. A face that takes your breath away, that puts into perspective the greatness of man and mountaineer. A face that makes you dream…” Hervé Barmasse writes this about the “dark side” of the Lhotse, which for years has warded off the best Italian, former Yugoslav and French mountaineers, twice defeated Reinhold Messner and killed the Pole Kukuczka… A face made of rock and ice, constantly swept by avalanches and subject to long periods of bad weather, technically extremely difficult; its first successful climb is still controversial and a topic of debate. The story of this “Wall of legends” and the numerous attempts carried out by the best mountaineers of all times is the very emblem of the history of Himalayan mountaineering, as well as an opportunity to (re)discover and (re)write a history of mountaineering in Eastern Europe. Indeed, because on a wall like that only the strongest, most determined and “toughest” could hope for success, traits typical of East European mountaineers, too often neglected in the history of “official” mountaineering, told by Western protagonists.

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