Lhotse South Face Attempt. Christophe Profit and I failed to climb the south face of Lhotse due to high winds. On our first attempt from October 6 to 10, we escaped from the great couloir on the left but at the bottom of the central dihedral we discovered the Russian ropes. It was nonsense for us to continue on the same route because we wanted to do a real alpine-style climb. And so we gave up that route. We then opened a new direct route up to 7600 meters and through the great central couloir. On October 20, at 7600 meters a storm obliged us to traverse to the right and join the Polish route. We decided to climb down the Polish route, being a matter of survival. This descent took us two days during which we had nothing to drink. On October 22, we reached the bottom of Lhotse, exhausted.

Pierre Beghin, Groupe de Haute Montagne