Geneva Spur

For other uses, see Geneva (disambiguation).

Geneva Spur
Looking up at Lhotse, Geneva Spur on the left bank
Elevation	Lowest point ca. 24,000 feet

The Geneva Spur, originally named Eperon des Genevois and also called the Saddle Rib is a geological feature on Mount Everest—it is a large rock buttress near the summits of Everest and Lhotse. It is a saddle (landform) between the peaks of Mount Everest and Lhotse.

The spur is between 25,000 and 26,000 feet altitude.

The Geneva Spur name comes from the 1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition. The spur provides a route to the South Col, and is usually traversed by climbers heading for Lhotse or Everest summits.

From the top of Geneva Spur, South Col can be seen, and when looking at it Mount Everest is on the left and Lhotse to the right. Lhotse climbers typically head southeast from Geneva Spur, and on to a couloir to ascend that summit.

History

On the 1956 Swiss Everest–Lhotse Expedition, the spur was the location of the last high camp before Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss achieved the first known ascent of Lhotse summit, on May 18th 1956.

Far bigger than it looks from a distance, Geneva Spur was a welcome mixture of snow and rock scrambling.

— G. Plimpton, As Told at the Explorers Club

Geology

The Geneva Spur[, in the 1955 translated edition of a 1952 book] "is now called the Saddle Rib. It is flanked on either side by two steep couloirs, which after fresh falls of snow become dangerously exposed to avalanches, but after dry spells turn to grooves of bare ice".

Location on climbing routes to peaks of Everest and Lhotse

The Geneva spur is above the Yellow Band; on the Souteast Ridge climbing route, the Genava Spur lies below Camp IV (as of 2003) - and above Camp III, but lower than Camp IV (as of 2003) and South Col.

External links

• Geneva Spur (parent gallery)
• Lhotse from Geneva Spur
• Climbers above the spur
• Climbing from Camp III to IV