LHOTSE MIDDLE (8414 m) (The first ascent, devoted to the memory of Vladimir Bashkirov) March-June 2001, Nepal Pictures | Last attempt | Russian 8000-peak May 23, 4 climbers (Eugeny Vinogradsky, Serguei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov) made first ascent of Lhotse Middle (8414 m, Himalaya, Nepal). Now there is the summit over the 8000m in Himalaya where the Russian were the first to step! May 24, 3 climbers: Gleb Sokolov, Yuri Koshelenko, Nikolai Jiline. May 27, 2 climbers: Viktor Volodin, Vladimir Yanochkin.

The summit Lhotse East or Middle (8,414 m) is situated on the ridge between Main summit of Lhotse 8,516 m and summit Lhotse Shar 8,400 m. Any separate ascents up to this summit are practically excluded because of the steep walls and very crossed relief and it is possible to summit it only climbing up to Lhotse Main or Lhotse Shar before and then make a traverse of a very crossed ridge with a length about 1000 meters.
The ascent up to Lhotse Main by itself or Lhotse Shar is the task of separate expeditionand the additional traverse which requires several days of work on the height more then 8,300 m makes the Lhotse East unclimbed till nowadays.
Actually almost all moreor less interesting eightsousanders Faces and ridges in
Himalayas were climbed. Last first ascent up to the summit higher then 8 000 m was in 1982.
Plans to be on the summit of Lhotse Middle already had several teams but all attempts were unsuccessful. In 1994 the team from Switzerland tried to make a traverse to Lhotse East but climbed the Lhotse Main summit on 9:10 a.m.had to refuse next climbing because of awful state of the route and wild froze.
The Russian team (part of it is now participate in the autumn expedition) also tried to climb this last Himalayan citadel on spring 1997 but the very bad weather in Everest region did not allow to do it. On the descent from the Main Lhotse summit the strongest highaltitude climber of Russia Vladimir Bashkirov was died.
In 1997 one try to summit East top by traverse from main Lhotse. The ascent is dedicated to memory of Vladimir Bashkirov.

The members : Cherny Nikolai (Moscow), Gleb Sokolov (Novosibirsk), Viktor Volodin (Moscow), Vasili Elagin (Moscow), Vladimir Yanochkin (Moscow), Petr Kuznetsov (Krasnojarsk), Yuri Koshelenko (Rostov) Evgueni Vinogradsky ( Ekaterinburg), Serguei Timofeev ( Ekaterinburg), Alexei Bolotov ( Ekaterinburg), Nikolai Jiline ( Ekaterinburg), Yuri Ermachek( Ekaterinburg). Organizer of the expedition and the film producer - Victor Kozlov (Moscow)

Expedition's diary:

18-22,March, 2001.
Katmandu. Reception in
the Ministry of Tourism of Nepal. Drowing up the latest
formalities.

24,March, Katmandu-Lukla.
15 men left with 15 tons cargo for Lukla.

31,March, Base Camp (5300), glacier Khumbu.
All expedition is at BC. Next day was devoted by
establishing BC.

5,April, Base Camp (5300m), glacier Khumbu.
Lama has had a visit BC, prayer flags were hanged, ritual
fights were lit.

6,April, Camp I (6100m).
The team set up the Camp I just behind the glacier Khumbu.
Coaches (N. Cherny, S.Timofeev, E.Vinogradsky) chose next
groups for making route:
1.Cherny, Elagin, Ianochkin, Volodin,
2.Timofeev, Vinogradsky, Bolotov, Kuznetsov,
3.Jilin, Ermachek, Sokolov, Koshelenko.

10,April, Camp II (6300m).

15,April.
They made 1/3 of route up to the camp III, fixed ropes about
up to 6900m.

17,April.
Under bad weather conditions pair Bolotov-Kuznetsov make
section between camp II and camp III.

19,April. The camp III was set up at the heigh 7400m.

22-26,April.
Because of unsettled conditions the plans were changed. All
the members of the team have a rest in BC during 3 days.

29,April.
Establishing of the camp IV on the southeast col (7986m).
Nasty weather and heavy mood after death of sherpa Babu forced
to give up. Nepal went into national mourning.

11,May.
The team led by Jilin made near about 300m of snow slope.
There was a heavy fall of snow in the night on 11,May, about 1
meters of snow.

15,May.
The rest participants of the expedition couldn't come up even
to Southeast col because of a lot of snow. Everybody descended
to BC for having a rest.

16,May. Nepal vice minister of tourism gave permit number 1 for the ascent of Lhotse Middle to the Russian team. 20,May. Bolotov and Kuznetsov reached the southeast col. 21,May. Timofeev and Vinogradsky came up to the southeast col. Bolotov and Kuznetsov made half of the slope.

22,May.
They set up last camp at 8250m Timofeev and Kuznetsov finished
to make snow slope. All of them had a sleep at camp V.

23,May.
Quartet ( Timofeev, Kuznetsov, Bolotov, Vinogradsky ) started
for their final push near about 8am. At 3pm all of them
summited and went back to the camp V (8250m) at 8pm, it was
getting dark Jilin,Sokolov and Koshelenko had a sleep at
campIV on the southeast col.

24,May.
In the morning all of that trio reached the summit and
descended to the Camp IV.

27,May.
Ermachek decided to descend but Volodin and Yanochkin started
ascent and summited. Next day everybody gathered at BC.

30,May.
They left BC.
9,June.
In the morning the team came back to Moscow.

Photo (Base Camp). Upper line, from left to right: Elagin, Ermachek, Kuznetsov, Bolotov, Vinogradsky, Cherny, Sokolov. Lower line: on the left three sherpas ( Nwang Tenjing, Ang Karma, Nima Tshering), Yanochkin, Koshelenko, Timofeev, Jilin, Volodin.

Club of climbers (Ural, Russia), pictures by Gleb Sokolov