Seven Summits

The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass.

Definition

The Seven Summits are composed of each of the highest mountain peaks of each of the seven continents. Different lists include slight variations, but generally the same core is maintained.

Australia

The highest mountain in the Australian mainland is Mount Kosciuszko, 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. However, the highest mountain in the Australian continent which includes Australia and New Guinea is Puncak Jaya, 4,884 m (16,024 ft) above sea level, in the Indonesian province of Papua on the island of New Guinea which lies on the Australian continental shelf. Puncak Jaya is also known as Carstensz Pyramid. Mount Kosciuszko is very easy to climb, while Puncak Jaya is difficult.

Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm, 4,509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Australia, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia and Southeast Asia. (See List of Southeast Asian mountains, which includes Puncak Jaya and other mountains in Papua, Indonesia.) However, such a definition is political, not geophysical. The peak belongs to the Bismarck Range of Papua New Guinea.

Europe

The generally accepted highest summit is Mount Elbrus (5,642 m or 18,510 ft) in the Caucasus, appearing on both the Bass and Messner lists. However, because the location of the boundary between Asia and Europe is not universally agreed upon, its inclusion in Europe is disputed: if the Kumaâ€"Manych Depression is used as geological border between Asia and Europe, Caucasus and Elbrus lie wholly in Asia. If the Greater Caucasus watershed is used instead, Elbrus' peaks are wholly in Europe, albeit close to the border with Asia. Mont Blanc (4,810 m or 15,781 ft), lying on the border between France and Italy in the Graian Alps, is seen by some to be the highest mountain in Europe.

The Bass and Messner lists

The first Seven Summits list as postulated by Bass (The Bass or Kosciusko list) chose the highest mountain of mainland Australia, Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m or 7,310 ft), to represent the Australian continent's highest summit. Reinhold Messner postulated another list (the Messner or Carstensz list) replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Indonesia's Puncak Jaya, or Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m or 16,024 ft). Neither the Bass nor the Messner list includes Mont Blanc. From a mountaineering point of view the Messner list is the more challenging one. Climbing Carstensz Pyramid has the character of an expedition, whereas the ascent of Kosciuszko is an easy hike. Indeed, Pat Morrow used this argument to defend his choice to adhere to the Messner list. "Being a climber first and a collector second, I felt strongly that Carstensz Pyramid, the highest mountain in Australasia ... was a true mountaineer’s objective."

Mountaineering challenge

The mountaineering challenge to climb the Seven Summits is traditionally based on either the Bass or the Messner list. (It is assumed that most of the mountaineers who have completed the Seven Summits would have climbed Mont Blanc as well.) As of January 2010, approximately 275 climbers climbed all seven of the peaks from either the Bass or the Messner list; about 30% of those have climbed all of the eight peaks required to complete both lists.

History

In 1956 William D. Hackett (1918â€"1999), an American mountaineer, reached the top of five continents. He climbed Mount McKinley (1947), Aconcagua (1949), Kilimanjaro (1950), Kosciuszko (1956) and Mont Blanc (1956). In that time, the Mont Blanc was considered to be the highest mountain of the European continent. Hackett made an attempt to climb Mt. Vinson and obtained a permit for the Mt. Everest in 1960 but due to several circumstances (frostbite, lack of funds, etc) he never made it more than five.

In 1970 the Japanese mountaineer and adventurer Naomi Uemura (1941-1984) was the first person to reach five of the Seven Summits including the Mount Everest. He climbed Mont Blanc (1966), Kilimanjaro (1966), Aconcagua (1968), Mount Everest (1970 solo) and Mount McKinley (1970 solo). After the first solo trip to the North Pole (1978) he planned to go on his own to Antarctica to climb Mount Vinson. In preparation for the Antarctica expedition he did a solo winter ascent of the Mount McKinley (1984). On the descent he dissappeared in a winter storm.

In 1978 the Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner was the first person to reach six of the Seven Summits (1971 Puncak Jaya, 1974 Aconcagua, 1976 Mt. McKinley, 1978 Kilimanjaro, 1978 Mt. Everest). For Messner the Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) was the highest peak in Australia (Messner list), but in 1983 he climbed Mt. Kosciuszko to satisfy also the other geographic definition of Australia. In the same year Messner climbed Mt. Elbrus and declared that this is the true highest peak of Europe. This definition was quickly accepted by others in the mountaineering community. Finally in 1986 he climbed Mt. Vinson, at that time he was only the fifth person to reach the Seven Summits.

In 1985 Richard Bass, a businessman and amateur mountaineer, was the first man to climb all the Seven Summits. In only one year, 1983, he climbed six peaks: Aconcagua, Mt. McKinley, Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Vinson and Mt. Kosciuszko. All of these climbs he did together with his companion Frank Wells and different mountain guides. From 1983 Bass and Wells made various guided attempts to climb the Mt. Everest, the highest and most difficult peak in the list. Before they could finish, however, Wells was killed in a helicopter crash on April 3, 1994. However, Bass pressed on and reached the summit of Mt. Everest, guided by the American professional mountaineer David Breashears, on April 30, 1985. He then co-authored the book Seven Summits, which covered the undertaking.

In 1986 the Canadian mountaineer Patrick Morrow became the first man to climb the Seven Summits in the "Carstensz-Version" (Messner list). He climbed Mt. McKinley (1977), Aconcagua (1981), Mt. Everest (1982), Kilimanjaro (1983), Mt. Kosciuszko (1983), Mt. Vinson (1985), Mt. Elbrus (1985) and finally the Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) on May 7, 1986. Morrow was also the first to complete both lists (Bass and Messner).

In 1990, Rob Hall and Gary Ball became the first to complete the "Seven Summits" in seven months. Using the Bass list, they started with Everest on May 10, 1990, and finished with Vinson on December 12, 1990, hours before the seven-month deadline.

In 1992 Junko Tabei became the first woman to complete the "Seven Summits".

Mary "Dolly" Lefever became the first American woman to climb the "Seven Summits" on March 11, 1993, when she climbed Australia's Kosciusko. She had previously climbed the others. Earlier in 1993 she had become the oldest surviving woman to have reached the summit of Mt. Everest; she was 47 years old.

In January 1996, Chris Haver became the first American to climb and ski all seven summits.

In May 2002, Susan Ershler and her husband, Phil, became the first married couple to climb the "Seven Summits" together. The first person to complete Seven Summits without the use of supplemental oxygen on Mount Everest is Reinhold Messner. Miroslav Caban is probably the only other climber (besides Messner) as of October 2005 to finish the project without supplemental oxygen on Everest (finished in 2005 with Carstensz) (Ed Viesturs also summitted all peaks without supplemental oxygen.). Between 2002 and 2007, Austrian climber Christian Stangl completed the Seven Summits (Messner list), climbing alone and without supplemental oxygen, and reported a record total ascent time from respective base camp to summit of 58 hours and 45 minutes.

On 17 May 2006 Rhys Jones became the youngest person to complete the 7 summits (Bass list) at the age of exactly 20 years. In May 2007, Samantha Larson completed the seven when she was 18 years and 220 days (she is still the youngest woman to have climbed the Seven Summits). Johnny Strange climbed the summits when he was 17 years and 161 days in June 2009. On May 26, 2011 at 6:45 Nepali time, Geordie Stewart became the youngest Briton to complete the 7 summits at the age of 22 years and 21 days. In 2009-10, Indian mountaineer Krushnaa Patil made a bid for the fastest woman to complete the challenege; she fell short of the challenge when, in May 2009, her seventh and final summit bid on Mt. McKinley was disallowed due to technical.
George Atkinson then became the youngest person in the world to complete the round aged 16 years 362 days. On December 24, 2011, the record was once again beaten, by American Jordan Romero, who completed the challenge at the age of 15 years, 5 months and 12 days by climbing Vinson.

In October 2006 Kit Deslauriers became the first person to have skied down (parts of) all seven peaks (Bass list). Three months later, in January 2007, Swedes Olof Sundström and Martin Letzter completed their Seven Summits skiing project by skiing down (parts of) Carstensz Pyramid, thus becoming the first and only people to have skied both lists.

The world record for completion of the Messner and Bass list was 136 days, by Danish climber Henrik Kristiansen in 2008. Kristiansen completed the summits in the following order: Vinson on Jan 21st, Aconcagua on Feb 6, Kosciuszko on Feb 13, Kilimanjaro on Mar 1, Carstensz Pyramid on Mar 14, Elbrus on May 8, Everest on May 25, spending just 22 days on the mountain (normally, expeditions take up to 2 months acclimatizing, laying ropes etc...) and finally McKinley on June 5, beating Ian McKeever's previous record by 20 days. Vern Tejas set the new record for the same, in 134 days. Tejas began with summiting Vinson on Jan 18 2010 and completing with McKinley on May 31. This was Vern's 9th time to complete the "Bass" Seven Summits.

In January 2010, the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán completed the seven summits (Messner list), at the age of 71, after reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro. He had climbed the first one in 1968.

On 23 May 2010, AC Sherpa summited Mt. Everest as his last and final conquest of the Seven Summits (Bass list). In doing this, he set a new record by climbing the seven summits within 42 climbing days. Additionally, when climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro (via Marangu) he summited in just 16 hours and 37 minutes, easily beating the previous record of 18 hours.

As of 24 December 2011, it is reported that only 118 people have climbed the Seven Summits if one assumes "full" completion of the quest requires climbing the "Eight Summits" across both the Bass and Messner lists (climbing both Carstenz Pyramid and Kosciusko in addition to the other six "undisputed" summits such as Everest). 231 persons have climbed the Messner list, while 234 have completed the Bass list. 348 have done either the Bass or Messner list.

In 2013, Vanessa O'Brien became the fastest female to complete the Seven Summits (including Carstenz Pyramid), finishing in 10 months. Cason Crane became the first openly gay man to climb the Seven Summits.

On November 22, 2013 Werner Berger (Canada, ex-South African), at age of 76 years 129 days, became the oldest person in the world to complete the Seven Summits (Messner-7 incl. Mt. Kosciusko).

Criticism

Alpinism author Jon Krakauer (1997) wrote in Into Thin Air that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent, known as the Seven Second Summitsâ€"a feat that was not accomplished until January 2012. This is especially true for Asia, as K2 (8,611 m) demands greater technical climbing skills than Everest (8,848 m), while altitude-related factors such as the thinness of the atmosphere, high winds and low temperatures remain much the same. Some of those completing the seven ascents are aware of the magnitude of the challenge. In 2000, in a foreword to Steve Bell et al., Seven Summits, Morrow opined with humility "[t]he only reason Reinhold [Messner] wasn’t the first person to complete the seven was that he was too busy gambolling up the 14 tallest mountains in the world."

See also

• Eight-thousander
• Explorers Grand Slam, also known as The Adventurers Grand Slam
• Extreme points of Earth
• Extremes on Earth
• List of highest mountains
• List of islands by highest point
• Lists of mountains (for other climbing lists)
• Seven Second Summits
• Seven Third Summits
• Territorial claims of Antarctica
• Three Poles Challenge
• Volcanic Seven Summits

Footnotes

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References

References

External links

• 3D Tour of Seven Summits in Virtual Earth
• 7summits.com, voluminous information within commercial site
• Essay on the criteria for the Seven Summits
• International Seven Summits Expedition Team