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The seven highest mountains of the continents (the "Seven
Summits") are an easier target compared to the Fourteen
8,000 meters peaks. There is also a world club joining
all of the mountaineers who have succeeded in centring this goal.
The first man in completing the collection was the Canadian climber
Pat Morrow in August 1986. Only four months later Reinhold Messner,
after being the first one in winning over the fourteen 8,000 meters
peaks, was the second climber in closing the list. By the end of
the year 2000, there were already 52 people who could count for
the Seven Summits exploit.
Here is the official list of the Seven Summits:
| Summit |
Continent |
Height |
|
|
South America |
6,960 m |
|
|
North America |
6,194 m |
|
|
Europe |
5,642 m |
|
|
Asia |
8,850 m |
|
|
Africa |
5,895 m |
|
|
Antarctica |
4,897 m |
|
|
Oceania |
5,040 m |
Notice that according the climbers from everywhere in world, the
highest mountain of Europe is Mount Elbrus. To say the truth, the
official geography would establish that Mount Elbrus is in Asia
and that Mont Blanc (4,810 m), on the French/Italian Alps, would
be the real highest mountain of Europe.
Another dispute concerns the highest mountain of Oceania, which
sometimes is said to be Mount Kosciusko, in Australia (2,228 m).
Carstensz Pyramid, in Irian Jaya, is surely more difficult and high,
and there should be no doubt that it's in Oceania.
If you want to try your challenge to the Seven Summits, consider
that Kilimanjaro is the easiest to climb. Many thousands trekkers
reach its summit every year, but you have to be acclimatized for
the high altitude. Elbrus too is not so hard and you can reach its
summit with the ski on your feet. Nevertheless, Elbrus has a bad
reputation because of the changing weather.
Mount Vinson asks for much more money than climbing experience.
Apart from the cold, it's not so hard from a technical point of
view, but going there is extremely expensive.
Aconcagua is within the reach of many trained mountaineers with
good experience. The regular route is not so hard and you can walk
all of it up to the summit, but you have to consider that you're
climbing up almost 7,000 meters a.s.l.
Also, this mountains has a very bad reputation for the bad weather
and storms.
Carstensz Pyramid and, above all, Mc Kinley are difficult mountains
which need lot of money for being climbed and very good technical
skills.
And, last but not least, there is Mount Everest of course, which
at the end of year 2003 was been already climbed by more than 1,200
people....
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