How to Tackle the Seven Summits -

16 de mayo de 2013

How to Tackle the Seven Summits -

If you're a mountaineer, one thing that might interest you is the enormous challenge of climbing the Seven Summits, namely the seven highest peaks on seven continents. Expensive, grueling, dangerous, and exhausting, for some people, this is the ultimate in life achievements. This article explains how to tackle them in a general way; the actual climbing skills are something you already need sorted out!

Edit Steps

Be a highly experienced mountaineer. The Seven Summit mountains are not for any climber other than the well-seasoned one with plenty of climbs already achieved. If you haven't already trained at the following mountains, get started with these ones first:
- The Matterhorn – Swiss and Italian border mountain. It has sheer faces, lots of awful weather, and many an avalanche or rock fall. Ideal training ground. The southern face is the most challenging.
- Mount Thor – Baffin Island, Nunavut. With the longest vertical cliff in the world, this will definitely test your technical climbing skills to their limits.
- Eiger – Swiss Alps. Lots of people have climbed this one over time but the North Face wasn't climbed until 1938. It's a busier climb and some of it has rock fall risks.
- Ben Nevis – UK. The north face cliffs provide a good place for training.

Decide which summits you count as your Seven Summits. There is some dispute over a few of the summits, so you'll need to make up your own mind as to what constitutes the Seven Summits by reading what others have tackled, looking at lists of climbers who have done the Seven Summits, etc. The seven climbs are usually considered to be:
- Mt Everest, Nepal-Tibet border, highest mountain climb in world, also the most difficult of the seven
- Kilimanjaro, Africa
- Mt McKinley (Denali), Alaska, USA
- Elbrus, Caucus Mountains (see "Tips" though) or Mont Blanc in the Graian Alps of Europe
- Aconcagua in the Argentinian Andes
- Oceania: either Kosciusko, Australia (Oceania) - an easy day hike most walkers can manage, without oxygen; or Puncak Jaya (Castensz Pyramid), New Guinea (Oceania)
- Mt Vinson in the Vinson Massif, Antarctica.

Read up on every Seven Summits summit that you're going to climb. Get maps, guidebooks, books by those who have climbed, etc., and learn as much as you can about the mountains. Know well in advance if you have the requisite climbing abilities from rock climbing skills to ice climbing, as well as your usual mountain climbing expertise. Learn about specific challenges and quirks, weather issues, where to base camp, how to get in and out, and the costs involved.

Decide where you'll begin. There are obviously seven choices and your ability to climb then in any particular order will be dependent on a number of factors including weather, season, transport access, costs, etc. It is also probably a good idea to start with the easiest and work your way up the scale! Most people begin with Kilimanjaro, which is an easy climb but can have altitude effects.^[1] Kosciusko and Elbrus are also easy climbs.^[2] Proceed to Mt. Vinson and Denali next, followed by the technically difficult Everest and Puncak Jaya.^[3]

Plan well in advance. As well as the obvious climbing skills needed, there are many other things to take into consideration, including vaccinations, carriage of your equipment (including oxygen), accommodation, transport, visas or permits, medical insurance and transport, and so forth. Keep detailed lists of all the things you need to acquire and do and check them off methodically as you prepare.

Be very realistic. The difficulties of climbing all seven summits are enormous. Not only are many of the climbs technically difficult (although some are easier than others), the costs involved in getting to them and having all the right equipment, etc., are high. Plus, you need to consider the wishes of family and friends, who will express their worries to you, and understandably so.
- If you an amateur to intermediate climber, don't even consider climbing some of the training or Seven Summit mountains. It is too dangerous. Keep learning and building up your skills and perhaps some day you'll be advanced enough.
- The expenses are tremendous. "Is this the best use of my savings?" is a question you should constantly ask yourself. Even if you manage to get to most of the continents, getting to Antarctica can involve prohibitive costs.

Move on to the Second Seven Summits. If you're still hankering for more adventure, or if the Seven Summits don't really grab your interest, consider the Second Seven Summits originally cited by Jon Krakauer.^[4] Some of these, like K2, are technically more difficult.

Edit Tips

Note that some people consider Mount Elbrus in the Caucus mountains in Russia to be the highest summit for Europe but some geographers see this as being part of Asia. It's up to you!

Only around 200 people have climbed all seven summits, depending on which summits are chosen.^[5]^[6] You can check lists of successful seven summit climbers by searching online.^[7]

Edit Warnings

Mountain climbing is inherently dangerous. Even very experienced people make mistakes that cost them their lives. Know what you're doing, learn from the very best, and use guides to assist you. Always have the best possible equipment in excellent condition.