| Geneva Spur | |
|---|---|
 Looking up at Lhotse, Geneva Spur on the left bank | |
| Elevation | Starts at about 24,000 ft (7,300 m)[1] |
| Location | Mount Everest |
| Range | Himalayas |
TheGeneva Spur, namedEperon des Genevois[2] and has also been called theSaddle Rib[3] is a geological feature onMount Everest—it is a large rock buttress near the summits of Everest andLhotse.[4][5] The Geneva spur is above Camp III and the Yellow Band, but before Camp IV andSouth Col.[4] It is aspur[6] near the south col. A related formation is thesaddle[7] between the peaks of Mount Everest and Lhotse.
The altitude of the spur is between 25,000 and 26,000 feet (7,600 and 7,900 m).[5]
The Geneva Spur name comes from the1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition.[4] The spur provides a route to the South Col, and is usually traversed by climbers heading for Lhotse or Everest summits.[8][4]
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.[5] Lhotse climbers typically head southeast from Geneva Spur, and on to acouloir to ascend that summit.[5]
On the 1956 Swiss Everest–Lhotse Expedition, the spur was the location of the last high camp before Fritz Luchsinger andErnst Reiss achieved the first known ascent of Lhotse summit, on 18 May 1956.[9]
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[5]
The Geneva spur is above the Yellow Band; on the Southeast Ridge climbing route, the Geneva Spur lies above Camp III, but lower than Camp IV (as of 2003) andSouth Col.[4] The spur provides a route to the South Col, and is usually traversed by climbers heading for Lhotse or Everest summits.[10][4]
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 steepcouloirs, which after fresh falls of snow become dangerously exposed to avalanches, but after dry spells turn to grooves of bare ice".[11]
