Seven Summits - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Seven Summits are the highest mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

s of each of the seven continent

Continent

A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...

s. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering

Mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass

Richard Bass

Richard "Dick" Bass is the owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and the first man to climb the "Seven Summits," the tallest mountain on each continent. There is no relation with the Bass Family of Fort Worth, Texas.-Early life:...

(Bass et al. 1986).

Definition

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

Oceania

The highest mountain in the Australian mainland

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

is Mt. Kosciuszko, 2228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. However, the highest mountain in the Australian continent

Australia (continent)

Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands...

which includes Australia and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

is Puncak Jaya

Puncak Jaya

Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid is the highest summit of Mount Carstensz in the Sudirman Range of the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia . Other summits are East Carstensz Peak and Ngga Pulu...

, 4884 m (16,024 ft) above sea level, in the Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n province of Papua on the island of New Guinea

New Guinea

which lies on the Australian continental shelf. Puncak Jaya is also known as Carstensz Pyramid.

Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm

Mount Wilhelm

Mount Wilhelm is the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea at . It is part of the Bismarck Range and the peak is the point where three provinces intersect, Simbu, Western Highlands and Madang...

, 4509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, on account of Indonesia

Indonesia

being part of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

and Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

. (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

Bismarck Range

The Bismarck Range is a mountain range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. The range is named after the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. From the 1880s to 1914 this part of the island was a German colony....

of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. The Seven Summits list sometimes includes Mount Wilhelm.

Europe

In Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, the generally accepted highest summit is Mount Elbrus

Mount Elbrus

Mount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia...

(5642 m (18,510 ft)) in the Caucasus

Caucasus Mountains

The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....

. However, because the location of the boundary between Asia and Europe is not universally agreed upon, its inclusion in Europe is disputed: if the Kuma-Manych depression is used as geological border between Asia and Europe, Caucasus and Elbrus lie wholly in Asia. If the Greater Caucasus watershed

Greater Caucasus

Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....

is used instead, Elbrus' peaks are wholly in Europe, albeit close to the border with Asia.

The highest mountain indisputably within Europe is Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...

(4810 m (15,781 ft)) in the Graian Alps

Graian Alps

The Graian Alps are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in France , Italy , and Switzerland...

, on the border between France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

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 (2228 m (7,310 ft)), to represent the Australian continent's highest summit. Reinhold Messner

Reinhold Messner

Reinhold Messner is an Italian mountaineer and explorer from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol "whose astonishing feats on Everest and on peaks throughout the world have earned him the status of the greatest climber in history." He is renowned for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without...

postulated another list (the Messner or Carstensz list) replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Indonesia's Puncak Jaya

Puncak Jaya

, or Carstensz Pyramid (4884 m (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.'

"Seven" Summits (sorted by continent)
"Bass"	"Messner"	Summit	Elevation m	Elevation ft	Continent	Range	Country	First Successful Ascent
X	X	Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:... (Volcano Kibo: Uhuru Peak)	5,892	19,340	Africa Africa Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...	Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...	Tanzania Tanzania The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...	1889
X	X	Vinson Massif Vinson Massif Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica, lying in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, which stand above the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about from the South Pole and is about long and wide. At the highest point is Mount...	4,892	16,050	Antarctica	Ellsworth Mountains Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. They are bisected by Minnesota Glacier to form the northern Sentinel Range and the southern Heritage...	N/A*	1966
X		Kosciuszko Mount Kosciuszko Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...	2,228	7,310	Australia Australia (continent) Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands...	Great Dividing Range Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	1840
	X	Carstensz Pyramid Puncak Jaya Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid is the highest summit of Mount Carstensz in the Sudirman Range of the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia . Other summits are East Carstensz Peak and Ngga Pulu... (Puncak Jaya)	4,884	16,024	Oceania Oceania Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...	Maoke Mountains	Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...	1962
X	X	Everest Mount Everest Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point... (Sagarmatha or Chomolungma)	8,848	29,035	Asia Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...	Himalaya	China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... , Nepal Nepal Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...	1953
X	X	Elbrus Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia... (Minghi-Tau)	5,642	18,510	Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	Caucasus Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....	Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...	1874
X	X	Mount McKinley Mount McKinley Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.- Geology and features :Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton... (Denali)	6,194	20,320	North America North America North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...	Alaska Range Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 650-km-long mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1913
X	X	Aconcagua Aconcagua Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at . It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza and it lies west by north of its capital, the city of Mendoza. The summit is also located about 5 kilometres from San Juan Province and 15 kilometres from the...	6,962	22,841	South America South America South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...	Andes Andes The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...	Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...	1897

*Territory claimed by Chile. However, most nations do not recognize Antarctic territorial claims.

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

Mont Blanc

as well.)

History

Richard Bass

, a businessman and amateur mountaineer, set himself the goal of climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, including mainland Australia. He hired David Breashears

David Breashears

David Breashears is an American mountaineer and filmmaker. In 1985, he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest twice...

to guide him up Everest, the most difficult of his Seven, and completed his Everest summit on April 30, 1985. He then co-authored the book Seven Summits, which covered the undertaking (Bass et al. 1986).

Reinhold Messner

Reinhold Messner

revised Bass's list by using the broader definition of Oceania and including Carstensz Pyramid

Puncak Jaya

rather than Australia's Mount Kosciuszko

Mount Kosciuszko

Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...

. Pat Morrow first met Messner's challenge, finishing with climbing Carstensz Pyramid

Puncak Jaya

on May 7, 1986, shortly followed by Messner himself climbing Vinson

Vinson Massif

Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica, lying in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, which stand above the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about from the South Pole and is about long and wide. At the highest point is Mount...

on December 3, 1986. Morrow has also been the first to complete all eight summits from both lists.

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.

In May 2002, Susan Ershler

Susan Ershler

Susan Ershler is an international public speaker, a former corporate executive, Mt. Everest summiter and co-author. Ershler and her husband, Phil, are the first couple to climb the “Seven Summits” together, the highest mountain on each continent...

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 artificial 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 artificial oxygen on Everest (finished in 2005 with Carstensz). Between 2002 and 2007, Austrian climber Christian Stangl

Christian Stangl

Christian Stangl is an alpine style professional mountain climber. He practices what he calls "skyrunning": rapidly climbing or running up very high mountains, directly from the base camp to the summit and back, alone, without supplementary oxygen, intermediate camps, resupplies by Sherpas, or...

completed the Seven Summits (Messner list), climbing alone and without oxygen, and reported a record total ascent time from respective base camp to summit of 58 hours and 45 minutes.

In 1990, Rob Hall

Rob Hall

Rob Hall , a native of New Zealand, was a mountaineer best known for being head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition in which he, a fellow guide, and two clients perished. A best-selling account of the expedition was given in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air...

and Gary Ball became the first to complete the Seven Summits in seven months. Using the Bass list, they started with Mount Everest

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...

on May 10, 1990, and finished with Vinson on December 12, 1990, hours before the seven-month deadline.

The world record for completion of the Messner and Bass list was 136 days, by Danish climber Henrik Kristiansen(43) 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, Carstenz 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 Denali on June 5, beating Irish Ian McKeevers' 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 Denali on May 31. This was Vern's 9th time to complete the "Bass" Seven Summits.

In October 2006 Kit Deslauriers

Kit Deslauriers

Kit DesLauriers is a champion American skier and the first person to ski down the Seven Summits.She was born in Albany, New York and grew up in Westport, Massachusetts and Long Island, New York. Her grandfather built the first chairlift at Stowe Mountain in Vermont...

became the first person to have skied down (parts of) all seven peaks (Kosciuszko 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.

On January 2010, the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán

Carlos Soria Fontán

Carlos Soria Fontán is a Spanish mountain climber who, at more than 70 years of age, has taken up the challenge of becoming the oldest person in the world to reach of summit of the 14 highest mountains in the world...

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.

In May, 2010, Robert Hill became the first person with Crohn's Disease

Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...

and an ostomy to complete the 7 summits.

On May 26th, 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. This record stood for just 2 and a half hours before George Atkinson

George Atkinson (climber)

George Atkinson is a British climber from Surbiton. At the age of sixteen he became the youngest ever person to complete the Seven Summits Challenge by climbing to the summit of the highest mountain on each of seven continents. He completed the challenge at 08:15 local time on 26 May 2011 when...

became the youngest person in the world to complete the round aged 16 years 362 days.

Criticism

Alpinism author Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...

(1997) wrote in Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997 bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details the author's presence at Mount Everest during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster when eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a 'rogue storm'...

that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent, known as the Seven Second Summits

Seven Second Summits

The Seven Second Summits are the second highest mountains of each of the seven continents. All of these mountain peaks are separate peaks rather than a sub-peak of the continents' high point...

—a feat that has not been accomplished . This is especially true for Asia, as K2

K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...

(8,611 m) demands greater technical climbing skills than Everest

Mount 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

Eight-thousander

The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....

External links

7summits.com, voluminous information within commercial site
3D Tour of Seven Summits http://maps.live.com/?v=2&cid=FDBAB8D732007047!480&tour=1&encType=1 in Virtual Earth
Virtual earth
Virtual earth may refer to:* Virtual ground - the node of an electrical circuit that is maintained at a steady reference potential, without being connected directly to the reference potential....
Essay on the criteria for the Seven Summits
Climb Cartensz Pyramid
Carstensz Pyramid and the Seven Summits
GearJunkie.com's Seven Summits Photo Gallery
Carstensz Pyramid Expedition

http://www.kilimanjaro-summit.com: Impartial and unbiased advice about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Definition

Oceania

Europe

The Bass and Messner lists

Mountaineering challenge

History

Criticism

See also

External links