1956 Swiss Mount Everest and Lhotse Expedition

Switzerland🏔️ 2 Peaks

Ernst Reiss

Ernst 'Ere' Reiss was born on February 24, 1920, in Davos, Switzerland. Immersed in the high alpine valleys of the Graubünden canton, Reiss trained as a precision mechanic before dedicating his life to alpine rescue, high-altitude guiding, and mountaineering innovation. In the late 1940s, Reiss established himself as one of Switzerland's finest ice and mixed technicians, completing daring ascents in the Bernese Oberland and the Mont Blanc massif. In 1952, Reiss was selected as a lead assault climber for both the spring and autumn Swiss Mount Everest Expeditions organized by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research. Operating in the Western Cwm, Reiss was instrumental in forcing the first passage up the sheer ice ramparts of the Geneva Spur and onto the South Col at 8,000 meters, forging the exact high-altitude gateway that British climbers Hillary and Tenzing utilized to conquer Everest the following year. In the spring of 1956, Reiss returned to the Khumbu region on the monumental Swiss Mount Everest and Lhotse Expedition led by Albert Eggler. Tasked specifically with the first ascent of Everest's towering neighbor, Lhotse (8,516m), Reiss partnered with Swiss Army captain Fritz Luchsinger. Above Camp IV in the Western Cwm, the pair forged an audacious line up the Lhotse Face and entered the menacing, rock-strewn Lhotse Couloir—a claustrophobic 1,100-meter funnel of 50-degree hard ice. On May 18, 1956, using open-circuit oxygen equipment, Reiss and Luchsinger fought their way through bitter gales and cascading spindrift to reach the razor-sharp summit ridge of Lhotse at 8,516 meters. Five days later, their Swiss teammates achieved the second and third ascents of Mount Everest, making the 1956 Swiss expedition one of the most successful high-altitude campaigns in history. Reiss later played a foundational role in modern Swiss air-rescue (Rega) and authored the widely read autobiography Mein Weg als Bergsteiger (1959). He passed away in Basel on August 3, 2010, at the age of ninety.

Switzerland🏔️ 2 Peaks

Fritz Luchsinger

Fritz Luchsinger was born on March 8, 1921, in Zurich, Switzerland. A career officer in the Swiss Army specializing in military mountain training and alpine logistics, Luchsinger combined rigorous discipline with exceptional high-altitude endurance and rock-and-ice craftsmanship. In the Swiss Alps, he completed major ascents across the Valais and Bernese Alps before being selected for the landmark 1956 Swiss Mount Everest and Lhotse Expedition. During the long trek into the Khumbu region in early 1956, disaster nearly struck when Luchsinger collapsed with acute appendicitis near Namche Bazaar. In an era without helicopter rescue, expedition doctor Gabriel Chevalley and local Tibetan healers treated him with intensive antibiotic therapy and complete immobilization inside the local Buddhist monastery. In an astonishing display of physical recovery, Luchsinger rejoined the climbing team weeks later at Base Camp and quickly regained full high-altitude fitness. Teaming up with Davos master climber Ernst Reiss, Luchsinger was assigned the primary summit assault on Lhotse (8,516m). Ascending from the Western Cwm, the two Swiss climbers pioneered a route up the upper Lhotse Face and forced their way through the perilous 1,100-meter technical gully known as the Lhotse Couloir. On May 18, 1956, battling sub-zero gales and loose rock bands, Luchsinger and Reiss reached the summit crest, completing the maiden ascent of the fourth-highest mountain in the world. Luchsinger continued climbing at the highest levels well into his later years. In May 1980, at the age of fifty-nine, he summited Dhaulagiri I (8,167m) without supplemental oxygen. In April 1983, while leading an alpine-style expedition on Shishapangma (8,027m) in Tibet, Luchsinger developed acute high-altitude pulmonary edema at 7,800 meters and tragically passed away on April 28, 1983. He remains honored as one of Switzerland’s most courageous and resilient Himalayan pioneers.