Welcome to my new limited series on climbing the Seven Summits. Episode 1 is an introduction plus a brief update on the Autumn climbing activity in Nepal and Tibet. For the next eight weeks, I’ll drop a new episode discussing one of the 7 Summits in detail.
The Seven Summits, aka 7S, represent the highest point on each of the seven continents. However, as with most things in mountaineering, there is controversy. From a geological viewpoint, there are only six continents on Earth: Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, South America, and North America. Europe is considered a peninsula of the Eurasia continental platform and is not an actual physical continent. However, from a political perspective, Europe is regarded as a continent; thus, Elbrus (18,513’/5642m), located on the border with Asia in southern Russia, represents Europe and not Mont Blanc (15,771’/4807m), which lies in the Alps on the border of France and Italy.
Another controversy is the competition between Australia’s Kosciusko (7,310’/2228m) and New Guinea’s Carstensz Pyramid, aka Puncak Jaya (16,024’/4884m), both located on the Oceania continent—which is not a continent but a region of the southwest Pacific that includes Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and many other islands.
The 7 Summits idea was hatched and first accomplished by American Dick Bass. He started with six summits in 1983: Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Denali, Vinson and Kosciuszko. Then, with guide David Breashears, he became the oldest person, 55 at the time, to summit Everest in 1985. Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first to summit all seven with Carstensz in addition to Kosciuszko in 1986. Italy mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner summited all the peaks without supplemental oxygen, a first, and completed the task in 1986.
Two 7 Summits Lists
Bass chose Australia as one of the seven continents and Kosciusko as its mainland high point. However, Canadian Pat Morrow, who was competing with Bass to finish the 7, challenged Bass’s summit of Australia’s Mt. Kosciusko as the highest peak in Oceania, saying that Carstensz Pyramid on Irian Jaya (Papua) in Indonesia’s New Guinea was the actual highpoint for the Australasian continental mass. Italian Reinhold Messner jumped in and agreed with Morrow. Today, Carstensz is considered one of the seven, but some 7 Summiteers try to bag the lower Kosciuszko to meet the Bass and the Messner lists.
There is no universally agreed-upon list of summiteers, but according to this list, as of 2016, over 400 people had summited either the Bass or Messner list, consisting of only 71 females. Only 148 had summited all eight. I would estimate that in 2024, over 700 people will have summited one version of the list, with half doing both lists.
So, I guess if you want to cover all the Seven Summits angles, here is the list of nine climbs:
- Everest, Nepal – 29,035/8850m
- Aconcagua, Argentina – 22,902/6960m
- Denali, Alaska – 20,320/6194m
- Kilimanjaro, Africa – 19,340/5896m
- Elbrus, Russia – 18,513/5642m
- Vinson, Antarctica – 16,067/4897m
- Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea – 16,023/4884m
- Mt. Blanc, France/Italy – 15,771’/4807m
- Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia – 7,310/2228m
Limited Access
In 2024, Elbrus is closed to most nationalities due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Some people are substituting Mont Blanc for it, hoping to get Elbrus once the war is over and the region becomes peaceful again. Also, the Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea has been sporadically closed due to violence between a giant mining company and local tribes or amongst the tribes themselves.
Second Seven (Eight) Summits
Since none of the seven are extreme technical mountaineering climbs, with the altitude challenges of Everest notwithstanding, some pundits suggest the second-highest mountain on the continent is a better challenge for real mountaineers. I agree that that list would be significantly more difficult if only because it includes K2 instead of Everest! That list includes:
- K2 (Pakistan-28,251’/8611m) instead of Everest
- Ojas del Salado (Argentina-22,615’/6893m) instead of Aconcagua
- Mt. Logan (Canada-19,551’/5956m) instead of Denali
- Gore Dykh-Tau (Russia-17,077’/5205m) instead of Elbrus
- Kenya (Africa-17,057’/5199m) instead of Kilimanjaro
- Tyree (Antarctica-15,919’/4852m) instead of Vinson
- Sumantri (New Guinea-15,978’/4870m) instead of Carstensz Pyramid
- Townsend (Australia-7,247’/2209m) instead of Kosciuszko
Again, there is no definitive list of who has competed in the second summits. Still, we know two names: Austrian Christian Stangl in 2013 and American Jenn Drummond, who finished all seven in 2023 but also wants to get Sumantri once the island settles. Italian Hans Kammerlander climbed all but Puncak Trikora, which is now believed to be lower than Puncak Mandala and is believed not to have reached the true summit of Mt. Logan.
Episodes will drop each week:
- September 15: Introduction
- September 22: Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia – 7,310/2228m
- September 29: Mt. Blanc, France/Italy – 15,771’/4807m
- October 6: Vinson, Antarctica – 16,067/4897m
- October 13: Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea – 16,023/4884m
- October 20: Elbrus, Russia – 18,513/5642m
- October 27: Kilimanjaro, Africa – 19,340/5896m
- November 3: Denali, Alaska – 20,320/6194m
- November 10: Aconcagua, Argentina – 22,902/6960m
- November 17: Everest, Nepal/Tibet – 29,035/8850m
Safe climbing to all.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Video podcast version of Episode 1: Seven Summits:
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