KATHMANDU: A 36-year-old climber from Germany today scaled the world's fourth highest mountain without using supplemental oxygen, as she completed 13 of the 14 peaks above 8,000m.

German mountaineer Anja Karen Blacha, who became the first German woman to climb Everest without oxygen in 2025, stood atop the summit of Mt. Lhotse without using bottled oxygen support this afternoon, said Mingma G, Managing Director at Imagine Nepal Treks.

“For Blacha, the most successful German high-altitude mountaineer, Lhotse was her thirteenth eight-thousander that she has scaled without oxygen support,” Mingma G said.

“On May 18, 1956, Lhotse was first climbed. Today is Lhotse's Platinum Jubilee. Exactly 70 years later, three members of our team climbed Lhotse, celebrating its platinum jubilee. Mountains are climbed by brave climbers, not merely strong ones — and that saying holds true. Anja arrived at Lhotse Base Camp in early April and waited there until the routes to Camp 1 and Camp 2 were opened. She was the first person to sleep at Camp 2 and Camp 3 and was already fully prepared for her summit push. Today, choosing the perfect day, she reached the summit and completed her 13th 8,000-meter peak, leaving only Shishapangma to complete all 14 peaks without supplemental oxygen,” Mingma G shared.

Blacha holds a number of climbing records: in 2017, she became the youngest German woman to climb Everest and the youngest German overall to climb all Seven Summits. In 2019, she became the first German woman to climb K2.

In 2020, she set a world record as the first woman to ski solo and unsupported from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole. “This journey also makes her the youngest person ever to reach the South Pole solo and unsupported from a coastal starting point,” Mingma G informed.