THE 7 SUMMITS ( 8 really)

Only 13 women in the United States have done it and a total of 37 globally: climb the highest peak on each continent of the world.

What are they?

The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summitting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such in the 1980s by Richard Bass (Bass et al 1986).

Mount Everest~8,850m Nepal, Asia, and the world (STARTS APRIL 1, 2011)	Aconcagua~6,962m Argentina, South America (SUMMITTED JAN 10, 2010)
Denali~6,194m Alaska, North America (SUMMITTED JUN 1, 2010)	Kilimanjaro~5,895m Tanzania, Africa (SUMMITTED JUL 16, 2009)
Mount Elbrus~5,642m Russia, Europe (SUMMITTED JULY 22, 2008)	Vinson Massif~4,897m Ellsworth Range, Antarctica
*Carstensz Pyramid~4,884m Indonesia, Australasia's highest mountain	*Mount Kosciuszko 2228m~Australia (SUMMITTED DEC 30, 2008)

The Seventh Summit is in some dispute. . .some consider Australia to be the seventh continent as opposed to Australasia, in which case Australia's 7,000 foot walk-up  is the seventh summit. Most climb both just to be sure, making eight in total.

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.

Stats

The world record for the Carstensz Pyramid list is 155 Days and for the Kosciuszko list is 169 Days, by Irish climber Ian McKeever in 2007.  The shortest time span set by a woman for the Koscuiszko list is 360 days, set by Britain's Annabelle Bond in 2005. The shortest time span set by a woman for the Carstensz Pyramid list and for completing both versions is 2 years and 62 days, set by Britain's Jo Gambi in 2005. To date only 37 women have climbed either version.

Links

Alpine Ascents