Lhotse: Ten Hours from Everest's Apex to Reiss Couloir

A 10-Hour High-Altitude Masterclass

Standing atop Mount Everest at 05:30 AM on May 22, 2019, most human beings would think only of hot tea and a sleeping bag. For Nirmal Purja, Everest was merely the morning leg of an unimaginable alpine double-header.

Descending back to Camp 4 on the South Col by late morning, Purja grabbed a fresh oxygen tank, consumed energy gels, and rallied Mingma David Sherpa and Gesman Tamang. At 11:30 AM, while exhausted Everest climbers were collapsing into their sleeping bags, Purja began ascending the West Face of Lhotse (8,516m).

Into the Reiss Couloir

Lhotse’s normal route shares the lower Khumbu face with Everest before breaking left into the steep, narrowing throat of the Reiss Couloir. Surmounting 50-degree hard blue ice under burning midday sun, Purja climbed with relentless military cadence. While gravity and low atmospheric pressure dragged at his limbs, his mental focus remained unbreakable.

At 15:45 PM—exactly 10 hours and 15 minutes after standing atop Everest—Purja topped out on the razor-sharp rock crest of Lhotse. He had achieved the fastest linkup of the world’s first and fourth highest peaks in mountaineering history, establishing a record certified by Guinness World Records.

Sprinting to Base Camp

With two 8,000ers in the bag in a single day, Purja rappelled down the couloir, skipped overnight rests at Camp 4, and descended all the way to Everest Base Camp. Waiting at the helipad was a chartered transport bound for Makalu, the final piece of his 48-hour triple crown.