8 Seven Summits

Mountains Menu

In 1981, Dick Bass, 51, a successful Texas businessman and owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah, and Frank Wells, 49, president of Warner Brothers Studios, set out to climb the highest peak on each of seven continents.

On April 30, 1985, on the summit of Mount Everest, Dick Bass became the first person to complete the Seven Summits.

Following are the "8" Seven Summits with links to photos from my experiences there.

Everest (29,035f /8,848m) Nepal/China

Denali (20,320f / 6,194m) Alaska, USA

Aconcagua (22,841f / 6,962m) Argentina

Elbrus (18,510f / 5,642m) Russia

Kilimanjaro (19,335f / 5,895m) Tanzania

Vinson Massif (16,067f / 4,897m) Antarctica

Kosciuszko (7,310f / 2,228m) Australia

Carstensz Pyramid (16,023f / 4,884m) Indonesia

Why are there 8 Seven Summits? Dick Bass climbed the highest point in Australia - Kosciuszko. But many, including Reinhold Messner, view Australia as part of the larger continental formation of Oceania, or Australasia. From that perspective, Carstensz Pyramid, also known as Puncak Jaya Kesuma, is the taller peak. From what I have read, Oceania is a region, not a continent. But including Oceania as a continent for purposes of climbing the Seven Summits adds a unique challenge - just trekking to base camp of Carstensz Pyramid in Papua is an adventure. So I had to do that one, too.

See 7summits for statistics. I'm not sure how accurate these statistics are, as it assumes everyone who completes the 7 Summits notifies this website (of course I did - I'm #361).