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 in the 1980s by Richard Bass (Bass et al 1986).
Seven Summits definitions
Due to different interpretations of continental borders (geographical, geological, geopolitical) several definitions for the highest summits per continent and the number of continents are possible. The Seven Summits number of seven continents is based on the continent model used in Western Europe and the United States.
Oceania
The highest mountain of the Australian mainland is Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m), but is actually smaller than the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mount Cook (3,754 m). The highest mountain in Oceania is Puncak Jaya, 4,884 m[1], on the island of New Guinea. It is also known as Carstensz Pyramid.
Europe
The generally accepted highest summit in Europe is Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) in the Caucasus. This is the accepted summit when the Caucasus mountains are included within Europe's boundaries. The issue is disputed, with some people considering Mont Blanc (4,808 m) to be Europe's highest mountain.
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 (2,228 m), to represent the Australian continent's highest summit. Reinhold Messner postulated another list (the Messner or Carstensz list) replacing Mount Kosciuszko with New Guinea's Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m). 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.
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 as well.)
History
Richard Bass, an American 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 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 revised Bass's list by substituting the Australia-New Guinea continent for mainland Australia. Pat Morrow first met Messner's challenge, finishing with climbing Carstensz Pyramid on May 7, 1986, shortly followed by Messner himself climbing Vinson on December 3rd, 1986. Morrow has also been the first to complete all eight summits from both lists.
In 1990, Rob Hall and Gary Ball became the first to complete the Seven Summits in seven months. Using the Bass list, they started with Mount Everest on May 10 1990 and finished with Vinson on December 12, 1990, hours before the seven-month deadline.
The first woman to complete the Bass and Messner lists was Junko Tabei finishing on July 28, 1992 by climbing Elbrus.
Samantha Larson, an 18-year-old California woman is believed to be the youngest climber to scale all seven after summiting Everest on May 17, 2007.
As of March 2007, more than 198 climbers have 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. While the numbers of completions of the two lists are very close, two statistics suggest the difference in degree of effort:
Even discounting both the 1985 completions using Kosciuszko (since they could be thought of as a head start before Messner's challenge was made), five more climbers completed the Sevens using Kosciuszko before the third climber completed the feat using Carstensz Pyramid.
The shortest time span a person has made the seven ascents using Kosciuszko is 172 days.
The world record for the Carstensz Pyramid list is 187 Days, by Canadian climber Daniel Griffith in 2006. Griffith completed the summits in the following order: Everest-May 24, McKinley-June 15, Elbrus-July 4, Carstensz Pyramid-Sep 24, Kilimanjaro-Oct 3, Aconcagua-Oct 20 and Vinson-Nov 27.
In December 2006 Davo Karni%u010Dar became the first person to have skied down all seven peaks.
On May 16, 2007, 18 year-old Samantha Larson became the youngest American to climb Mount Everest and also the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits.
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