Lobuche (also spelt Lobuje) is a

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

ese mountain which lies close to the

Khumbu Glacier The Khumbu Glacier ( ne, खुम्बु हिमनदी) is located in the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal between Mount Everest and the Lhotse-Nuptse ridge. With elevations of at its terminus to at its source, it is the world's hig ...

and the settlement of Lobuche. There are two main peaks, Lobuche East and Lobuche West. A permit to climb the mountain is required from the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), which classifies Lobuche East (6,119m) as a "trekking peak" and Lobuche West (6,145m) as an "expedition peak". As the easier, trekking peak, the East peak is climbed far more frequently than the West peak; however, most of those climbers only do so to a false summit a few hours from the true summit of Lobuche East. Between the two peaks is a long, deeply notched ridge, though a steep drop and considerable distance makes approaching the West peak from the East impossible. The first recorded ascent of Lobuche East was made by Laurence Nielson and Sherpa Ang Gyalzen on April 25, 1984. Lobuje West was first climbed in 1955 via the South Shoulder.

Name Confusion

Many of the tourist operators offering treks and climbs to Lobuje refer to the two peaks as "Lobuche East" and "Lobuche Far East". The NMA - who own the mountain - however, refer to them as Lobuche West and Lobuche East. Lobuche East Peak from Kalapatthar

Lobuche East south face routes aaj-13201215082-1564087972

Notable Ascents

In 1998, from September 29 to October 1, Slovenians Tomaž Humar and Janez Jeglič and Spaniard

Carlos Carsolio Carlos Carsolio Larrea (born 4 October 1962 in Mexico City) is a Mexican mountain climber. Carsolio is known for being the fourth man (first non-European) and the second youngest to climb the world's 14 eight-thousander mountain peaks, all of ...

climbed a new route on Lobuche East's northeast face in

Alpine style Alpine style is mountaineering in a self-sufficient manner, thereby carrying all of one's food, shelter and equipment as one climbs, as opposed to expedition style (or siege style) mountaineering which involves setting up a fixed line of stocked ...

. They named the route ''"Talking About Tsampa"'' (V-VI, 5.9, WI4, 85°, 900m). Along the strikingly prominent southwestern pillar of Lobuche East, several routes have been completed. On a 1991 expedition, Eric Brand and Pemba Norbu used fixed ropes to climb the west pillar to the northwest summit (VI, 5.10, A3). In 1995, Carlos Miguel and Eduard Sanchez also climbed the west pillar by a 6b+ route with one aid pitch. They intersected with the Brand-Norbu route halfway up. In 2010, Americans Joel Kauffman and Jarad Vilhauer climbed a new route on the southwest face of Lobuje East (6119m) in Nepal's Khumbu region on October 30th. They established ''"Night Terrors"'' (VI, WI5+, AI4, M7, 85°) in a 37-hour push from advance base camp to the summit, and then descended to base camp via the normal route (south spur). In 2010, Antonin Cecchini, Laurent Thévenot, Aurélien Vaissière, and Symon Welfringer arrived at Dzongla village and started climbing a route similar to the one used for the 1995 Spanish ascent (by Miguel-Miranda-Sanchez), which took them two long days to complete, after which they traversed from the true summit towards the false summit and then descended the mountain, reaching Dzongla by midnight (the descent took 5 and a half hours). They named the route "''Le Quatuor à Cordes''" (6b, A2, M4, 80°, 1,100m).

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , last = Fortune , first = Steve , title = Lobuche East, Southwest Pillar, Hiding in Plain Sight , department = Climbs and Expeditions , journal = American Alpine Journal , volume = 61 , issue = 93 , page = 323 , publisher = New Zealand Alpine Club , location = New Zealand, year = 2019 , url = http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201215082/Lobuche-East-Southwest-Pillar-Hiding-in-Plain-Sight , access-date = 27 November 2021 {{cite journal , last = Welfringer , first = Symon , title = Lobuche East Southwest Pillar, Le Quatuor à Cordes , department = Climbs and Expeditions , journal = American Alpine Journal , volume = 61 , issue = 93 , page = 0 , publisher = Himalayan Database , location = France, year = 2019 , url = http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201215115/Lobuche-East-Southwest-Pillar-Le-Quatuor-Cordes-Arakam-Tse-East-Face-Not-to-Summit-Pray-for-Porters , access-date = 27 November 2021 {{cite web, url=http://www.nepalmountaineering.org/flipbook/#/26/, title=NMA Peak Guide - Lobuje West , website=www.nepalmountaineering.org, accessdate=2018-10-04 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528172232/http://www.nepalmountaineering.org/flipbook/files/assets/basic-html/page27.html , archive-date=2019-05-28 , url-status = dead Mountains of the Province No. 1 Six-thousanders of the Himalayas Sagarmatha Zone