The Seven Second Summits are the second-highest mountains of each of the seven continents. All of these mountains are separate peaks rather than a sub-peak of the continents' high point. The Seven Second Summits are considered a harder challenge than the traditional Seven Summits. [2]
What constitutes a continent is a matter of some dispute among mountaineers seeking to complete this challenge. The main ridge of the Greater Caucasus range is generally considered to form the boundary between Europe and Asia. In that case, Mount Elbrus, (5,642 m (18,510 ft)) situated some 10 km north of the continental divide, is the highest mountain in Europe. Excluding the Caucasus Mountains, Mont Blanc (4,808 m (15,774 ft)) would be Europe's highest mountain.
The Australian continent is defined as comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands on the same continental shelf, including Tasmania and New Guinea. In the convention of the seven continents, one of the continents is the region of Australasia, which includes, for example, the mountainous islands of New Zealand.
For both the geological and conventional continent, New Guinea's Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m (16,024 ft)) is the highest summit. When considering a continent as a continuous landmass surrounded by oceans, mainland Australia would be its own continent, with Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m (7,310 ft)) as its highest summit.
The Seven Second Summits list follows the Seven Summits list from Richard Bass, [3] which uses Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) to represent the Australian continent's highest summit. Reinhold Messner proposed another list (the Messner or Carstensz list), replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Western New Guinea's Carstensz Pyramid, which is part of Indonesia (4,884 m). Following the Bass list, Mount Townsend is the second-highest summit (2,209 m) in Australia. According to the Messner list, Puncak Mandala (4,760 m) on New Guinea is the second highest of the Australian continent. [1] [4] Heights of mountain peaks in West Papua are poorly established, and Puncak Trikora has been listed as the second-highest summit on the island, but SRTM data do support a higher elevation for Mandala.
Both lists count Mount Elbrus as the highest peak in Europe. This makes Dykh-Tau (5,205 m), located in Russia, the second-highest summit in Europe. Those who consider Mont Blanc to be the highest mountain in Europe would consider Monte Rosa (4,634 m), located between Switzerland and Italy, to be the second-highest summit.
| Seven Second Summits (sorted by elevation) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | Bass list | Messner list | Elevation | Prominence | Continent | Range | Country | Coordinates |
| K2 | ✔ | ✔ | 8,611 m (28,251 ft) | 4,017 m (13,179 ft) | Asia | Karakoram | Pakistan / China | |
| Ojos del Salado | ✔ | ✔ | 6,893 m (22,615 ft) | 3,688 m (12,100 ft) | South America | Andes | Argentina / Chile | |
| Mount Logan | ✔ | ✔ | 5,959 m (19,551 ft) | 5,250 m (17,224 ft) | North America | Saint Elias | Canada | |
| Dykh-Tau | ✔ | ✔ | 5,205 m (17,077 ft) | 2,002 m (6,568 ft) | Europe | Caucasus | Russia | |
| Mount Kenya | ✔ | ✔ | 5,199 m (17,057 ft) | 3,825 m (12,549 ft) | Africa | – | Kenya | |
| Mount Tyree | ✔ | ✔ | 4,852 m (15,919 ft) | 1,152 m (3,780 ft) | Antarctica | Sentinel | – | |
| Sumantri | ✔ | 4,870 m (15,978 ft) | 2,760 m (9,055 ft) | Australia (continent) | Jayawijaya | Indonesia | ||
| Mount Townsend | ✔ | 2,209 m (7,247 ft) | 189 m (620 ft) | Australia | Snowies | Australia | ||
Austrian mountaineer Christian Stangl became the first person to successfully climb the Second Seven Summits. [5] Stangl climbed all possible candidates for the Second Seven Summits quest (K2, Mount Logan, Ojos del Salado, Batian, Mount Tyree, Dych Tau, Dufourspitze, Sumantri, Ngga Pulu, Puncak Trikora, Puncak Mandala and Mount Townsend) to exclude any errors and to satisfy all geographers. He finished the quest on 15 January 2013 and was certified by Guinness World Records on 17 September 2013. Later, he also completed the Challenge for the Seven Third Summits. [6] [7] [8]
In 2024, Jenn Drummond became the first woman to complete the Seven Second Summits with her ascent of Sumantri on October 9, 2024. In total, she summited nine peaks (Ojos del Salado, Batian, Dych Tau, Mount Tyree, K2, Mount Townsend, Mount Logan, Monte Rosa, and Sumantri) to successfully completed the challenge. She is the first American woman and only the second woman overall to ascend Mount Tyree, and she is the third American woman to summit K2.
In 2012 the Italian mountaineer Hans Kammerlander claimed to be the first person to complete the Seven Second Summits, but doubts were raised about his ascent of Mount Logan. [9] A further fraudulent summit claim on Mount Puncak Trikora confirms that Italian Hans Kammerlander never completed the Second Seven Summits series. [10] [11] [12]
The presentation of the Second Seven Summits concept and its relative difficulty was first published in January 1997 by Rock and Ice Magazine (#77) in the article The Second Seven Summits written by mountaineer and writer David D. Keaton. Later that year, the author Jon Krakauer in his book Into Thin Air echoed those sentiments by writing that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent instead of the highest. [13] In the climbing community, mountaineers such as Rob Hall had previously discussed the idea.
In Asia, K2 (8,611 m (28,251 ft)) demands greater technical climbing skills than Everest (8,848 m (29,029 ft)), while altitude-related factors such as the thinness of the atmosphere, high winds, and low temperatures remain much the same.
In Africa, the summit of Mount Kenya (5,199 m (17,057 ft)) is a rock climb, while Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m (19,341 ft)) can be ascended without any technical difficulty.
In North America, some sources[ who? ] consider Mount Logan a more difficult climb than Denali, although the climbing and outdoor recreation website Summitpost considers Logan no more difficult than Denali because it is neither technical nor steep. [14] Climber Mark Horrell, in a 2012 post on his blog, considered Mount Logan to be no more difficult technically than Denali, but much more difficult to approach. Denali's base camp, at 2,200 m (7,200 ft) elevation, is regularly served by air, while climbers without the means to charter a plane must tow their supplies by sledge for over 100 km (62 mi) to reach Mount Logan. [2]
In South America, Ojos del Salado involves a short scramble while Aconcagua is just a walk. [15] Horrell acknowledged that Ojos del Salado was more technically difficult, but considered Aconcagua a greater challenge because of physical demands. Aconcagua's base camp, at 4,500 m (14,800 ft), is accessible by mule, but from that point on, climbers must carry all of their supplies to as many as three higher camps before the final ascent. By contrast, Ojos del Salado is accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles up to 5,200 m (17,100 ft); from that point on, climbers need only carry supplies to a mountain hut at 5,800 m (19,000 ft) before making their final push to the summit. [2]
In Europe, Dykh-Tau is a considerably harder climb than Mount Elbrus. [16] According to Horrell, the main route on Elbrus is "long and physically tiring, but it’s not technically difficult," while Dykh-Tau's "easiest is graded at Russian alpine 4B, which involves steep rock sections and 55 degree snow and ice slopes." [2]
In Australasia, the continent's Second Summit on the Bass list, Mount Townsend, is more challenging than Mount Kosciuszko, but still just a walk-up. [17] The normal route on the highest peak of the Messner list, Puncak Jaya, is technically difficult (UIAA grade V+). Of the various candidates for the second summit; Puncak Mandala is extremely challenging with respect to the approach route, which is arguably the more significant problem in climbing the New Guinea peaks. There have been perhaps only two successful approaches (and climbs) reported. [18]
In Antarctica, Mount Vinson presents little difficulty beyond normal challenges of Antarctica (the guiding company Adventure Peaks rates the ascent at PD/AD on the Alpine scale), but Mount Tyree requires technical climbing, and it has been climbed by a total of nineteen people since its discovery.
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
Mount Tyree (4852m) is the second highest mountain of Antarctica located 13 kilometres northwest of Mount Vinson (4,892 m), the highest peak on the continent. It surmounts Patton Glacier to the north and Cervellati Glacier to the southeast.
Richard Daniel "Dick" Bass was an American businessman, rancher and mountaineer. He was the owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and the first man to climb the "Seven Summits", the tallest mountain on each continent.
Patrick Allan Morrow, is a Canadian photographer and mountain climber. In 1986 he was the first person to climb the Seven Summits in the Carstensz-Version.
Puncak Trikora is a 4,730 or 4,750-metre-high (15,584 ft) mountain in the Highland Papua province of Indonesia on New Guinea. It lies in the eastern part of the Sudirman (Nassau) Range of the Maoke Mountains.
Jaime Viñals Massanet is a Guatemalan mountaineer, the first person from Central America and Caribbean region ever to climb the Earth's highest peak, Mount Everest, after reaching the summit together with the American Andy Lakpass and the Danish Asmus Noreslet on an expedition from New Zealand organized by Russell Brice, Since then, he became one of the few people to have reached the Seven Summits - the highest mountains of each of the seven (sub-)continents. also he has finished to climb the Seven Islands of the World.
The Volcanic Seven Summits are the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents, just as the Seven Summits are the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Two of the Volcanic Seven Summits are also on the Seven Summits list. Kilimanjaro and Mount Elbrus, which were formed volcanically, are the highest peaks of their respective continents.
Zed "Zeddy" Al Refai is a Kuwaiti climber. He was the first Arab to climb Mount Everest and the 46th person to climb all seven highest summits in the seven continents of the world.
Christian Stangl is an Austrian alpine style mountaineer and mountain guide. He has become known as Skyrunner by numerous exceptionally fast ascents of high mountains. His major success was in 2013, when he became the first person to ascend the three highest mountains on all seven continents, the so-called Triple Seven Summits.
Puncak Mandala or Mandala Peak is a mountain located in Highland Papua, Indonesia. At 4,760 metres (15,617 ft), it is the highest point of the Jayawijaya (Orange) Range and is included in Seven Second Summits. Following Puncak Jaya/Mount Carstensz 350 km to the west, Mandala is the second-highest freestanding mountain in Oceania, Australasia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.
Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884 m (16,024 ft), is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indonesia. The mountain is located in the Sudirman Range of the highlands of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. Puncak Jaya is ranked 5th in the world by topographic isolation.
The Indonesian Seven Summits Expedition Mahitala Unpar (ISSEMU) was a team of four mountaineers from Indonesia that successfully climbed the Seven Summits (the Messner version) between 2009 and 2011. The last peak of their expedition was Denali in Alaska, which they reached on July 7, 2011. This marked the first time a team from Indonesia had completed the challenge.
Hans Kammerlander is an Italian mountaineer, living in Ahornach, a hamlet nearby Sand in Taufers. He has climbed 11 of the 14 8000m peaks. In 1984, together with Reinhold Messner he was the first climber to traverse two 8000 m peaks before descending to base camp.
Ngga Pulu is summit on the north rim of Mount Carstensz in the western part of the island of New Guinea rising 4,862 metres (15,951 ft). Trigonometric measurements showed that Ngga Pulu was the highest mountain of New Guinea and also the highest summit of the Australia-New Guinea continent. The elevation of Ngga Pulu in 1936 was about 4,907 m (16,099 ft), and it was the highest and most prominent peak between the Himalaya and the Andes. However, due to glacial melting, Ngga Pulu lost a high margin of elevation in the 20th century, being surpassed by Puncak Jaya. It is surrounded by one of Indonesia's only three glaciers, including the one on Puncak Trikora.
Samina Khayal Baig is a Pakistani mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, all Seven Summits by 2014, and K2 in 2022. She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest, K2 and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt. Everest at the age of 21.
The Seven Third Summits are the third-highest mountains of each of the seven continents. All of these mountain peaks are separate peaks rather than a sub-peak of the continents' high point. Christian Stangl from Austria claims to be the first person to reach the summit of all seven third summit mountains after climbing Puncak Mandala and Puncak Trikora. He did this as a part of his "Triple Seven Summits" project. Because of glacial melting and the disagreement over exactly which three peaks are the tallest in the Australian continent, Stangl also climbed several additional candidate peaks including Sumantri and Ngga Pulu.
The Indonesia Women Seven Summits Expedition was a team of Indonesian women with a stated objective to scale all Seven Summits within two years, starting on August 17, 2014. The team's mission was to promote sexual equality, following the eponymic Indonesia Seven Summits Expedition, which would not admit female mountaineers. On May 17, 2018, the two most senior female members scaled Mount Everest, the final summit of the expedition.
Satyarup Siddhanta is a Bangalore-based world record holder Indian mountaineer. Satyarup became the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits and Volcanic Seven Summits on 15 January 2019 at 10:10 pm Chile time. Guinness World Records approved this claim.
Vernon "Vern" Tejas is an American mountain climber and mountain guide. He is the current world record holder in the amount of time taken to summit all of the Seven Summits consecutively, having also previously held the same record. He was also the first person to solo summit several of the world's tallest peaks. Tejas was named one of the top fifty Alaskan athletes of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated in 2002. In 2012, he was elected to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Tejas plays the harmonica and guitar. He currently resides in Greenwich Village, New York.
The Eight Summits is the collective name for the eight highest mountain peaks on each of the seven continents. It is an alternative name for the "Seven Summits" due to different ways in naming the highest mountain on the continent of Australia.