Challenges

Climbing the Seven Summits. Seven summits for seven ‘continents’. Climbing Mount Vinson, Antarctica's highest peak, has long been a matter of finance. Here's a look back at the development of mountaineering on the icy continent and the history of the Seven Summits, a speciality of Expeditions Unlimited.

On May 29, 2023, the mountaineering community will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Our friend Jean-Michel Asselin, journalist and writer, takes us back to 1953, to relive this feat that forever marked the history of Himalayan climbing.

The 1938 expedition was the last to be led by the British on the north face of Everest. The conquest of the poles eluded them. The French, their long-standing adversaries, took the first 8,000 m ascent from them. That's all they need. Now they have to climb Everest.

At 5,642 meters, Mount Elbrus is the roof of Europe, and not our beloved Mont Blanc, as many people think. To complete the Seven Summits challenge, climbing Elbrus is a must. In this article, we look back at the origins of the ascent to the highest peak in the Caucasus and Europe.

On October 12 1967, to encourage and reward the best in the race to the top, the Bureau of the Central Council of Sports Societies and Organizations of the USSR decided to award a prize to those who managed to climb the five highest Soviet peaks. The Snow Leopard challenge was born.

In the 60s, the USSR was at the height of its glory. But borders were hermetic, and Soviet mountaineers expressed their (immense) talent on the many peaks that stretched from one end of the former Empire of the Tsars to the other. The Himalayas are off-limits to them. On October 12 1967, the Bureau of the Central Council of Sports Societies and Organizations of the USSR decided to award a prize to those who succeeded in climbing the five highest Soviet summits.

Drowned in the equatorial mist, the Carstensz Pyramid, 4,884 meters high, located in Indonesian New Guinea (Irian Jaya), was only climbed in 1962. The highest peak in Oceania, its ascent completes the challenge of the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks on the continents. A look back at the history of the exploration and conquest of Puncak Jaya.

Among the ‘Seven Summits’, the seven highest peaks on the continents, Mount Kilimanjaro occupies a special place: Hans Meyer, a man of science rather than a mountaineer, climbed it for the first time in 1889. Above all, he did it for the honour of his country and its Emperor: the Germany of Frederick William II. This first ascent remains unknown to the French. And with good reason, as Bismarck's Germany was our sworn enemy at the time, there was no question of highlighting this masterly achievement.

At an altitude of 6,500 meters in the winter of 1954, the six young French climbers on the south face of Aconcagua were playing for their lives. They could not survive another bivouac. In the indifference typical of those years when news still travelled slowly, a drama was unfolding up there. The roof of the Americas attracts many pretenders every year. And with good reason: it is one of the most accessible summits in the Seven Summits challenge.