3 climbers scale Mt Lhotse without oxygen, aides

KATHMANDU - Three climbers from Slovakia, Italy and Spain on Friday created a record of scaling the 11th 8, 000-meter-plus mountain, Mt Lhotse, without oxygen cylinders and Sherpa aides, officials said.

This record of scaling a 8,000-meter-plus mountain without oxygen is second only to the record of famous Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who completed ascending all 8,000-meter-plus mountains, 14 in total, without oxygen in 1986.

Mt Lhotse (8,516 m) is the fourth highest peak after Mt Qomolangma (also known as Mt Everest in the West) (8,848 m), Mt K2 (8,611 m) and Mt Kanchenjunga (8,586 m).

"Scaling a thin-aired high-altitude mountain without oxygen is a big achievement. Their courage is praiseworthy," Khimlal Guatam, a Tourism Ministry official told Xinhua from the Qomolangma base camp.

The three mountaineers, who set this record, include Peter Hamor (Slovakia), Marco Comfortola (Italy) and George Rodriguez (Spain).

Hamor, Comfortola and Rodriguez now need to scale three more 8,000-meter-plus mountains to level with the 27-year-old record of legendary mountaineer Messner.

The remaining three mountains include Mt Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Mt Manaslu (8,163 m) and Mt Shishapangma (8,027 m), which all lie in Nepal.