Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on earth and is connected to Mount Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 meters above sea level, Lhotse Middle (East) is 8,414 meters and Lhotse Shar is 8,383 meters.

Lhotse (main) was first climbed on May 18, 1956 by the Swiss team Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger. On May 12, 1979, Zepp Maierl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. On May 23, 2001, the first ascent of Lhotse Middle was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition.

On December 31, 1988, Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse.
As of October 2003, 243 climbers have committed Lhotse.