Vladas Vitkauskas is a leading Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n mountaineer

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...

. He became the first Lithuanian to climb 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, 1993. His mountaineering career also includes successful ascents of Seven Summits

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:...

 between 1993 and 1996 when he raised the same Lithuanian flag on the highest peak of each continent. Vitkauskas has also climbed the highest peaks in the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 – Communism Peak and Peak Korzhenevskaya

Peak Korzhenevskaya

Peak Korzhenevskaya is the third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It is one of the five "Snow Leopard Peaks" in the territory of theformer Soviet Union. It is named after Evgenia Korzhenevskaya, the wife of Russiangeographer Nikolai L...

 in 1989 and Lenin Peak

Lenin Peak

Lenin Peak , rises to in Gorno-Badakhshan on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and is the second-highest point of both countries. It is considered one of the easiest 7,000 m peaks in the world to climb and it has by far the most ascents of any 7,000 m or higher peak on earth, with every...

 and Khan Tengri

Khan Tengri

Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is located on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan border, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial cap rises to...

 in 1990. He is active in various social organizations, including Lithuanian Association of Mountaineering, where he served as the President from 1996 to 1999. Vitkauskas is also an avid photographer and has organized several exhibitions, mostly of his photos from the mount climbing. In 1994 he was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas

The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this Order. The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke...

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