The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them was first done on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Once considered a mountaineering challenge, in January 2023, Climbing said "Today, the Seven Summits are a relatively common—almost cliché—tour of each continent's highest peak", and that the real challenge was the Explorer's Grand Slam, the Seven Summits with the North and South poles.
Definitions
The Seven Summits are composed of each of the highest mountain peaks on each of the continents. Different lists include slight variations, but generally the same core is maintained. The seven summits depend on the definition used for a continent – in particular the location of the border of that continent. This results in two major points of variation. The first one is Mont Blanc versus Mount Elbrus for Europe, which depends on whether the crest of the Greater Caucasus Mountains is taken to define the Greater Caucasus watershed which marks the continental boundary between Asia and Europe for the region between the Black and Caspian seas; this classification would place Mount Elbrus in Asia instead of Europe. The second one is Puncak Jaya (also known as "Carstensz Pyramid") versus Mount Kosciuszko for the continent of Australia, which depends on whether one includes the Sahul Shelf or only mainland Australia as the continent. This also gives rise to another list called the "Eight Summits", which includes both Puncak Jaya and Mount Kosciuszko along with the six summits on the other continents.
This creates several possible versions of the seven summits:
Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Mount Wilhelm (Continent) Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Kosciuszko (the Bass version) Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Puncak Jaya (the Messner version) Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Mont Blanc, Mount Wilhelm (the Wilhelm version) Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Mont Blanc, Kosciuszko (the 1950s explorer Hackett version) Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Mont Blanc, Puncak Jaya Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Mauna Kea, Puncak Jaya / Kosciuszko (the tectonic version)
The concept Richard Bass and his climbing partner Frank Wells were pursuing was to be the first to stand atop the highest mountain on each continent. They pursued this goal as they defined it, climbing Aconcagua for South America, McKinley (now Denali) for North America, Kilimanjaro for Africa, Elbrus for Europe, Vinson for Antarctica, Kosciuszko for Australia, and finally Everest for Asia.
Definition using tectonic plates
Using the largest tectonic plates, Asia and Europe could be grouped as Eurasia, and the very large Pacific Plate would have Mauna Kea as its highest mountain. Puncak Jaya is actually on the Maoke Plate, while Mount Wilhelm is on the Woodlark Plate, both of which are usually grouped with the larger Australian Plate. If not, then Mount Kosciuszko would revert to being the highest of that plate (see also list of highest points of Oceanian countries).
African Plate – Kilimanjaro
Antarctic Plate – Vinson
Australian Plate – Puncak Jaya / Kosciuszko
Eurasian Plate – Mount Everest
North American Plate – Denali
Pacific Plate – Mauna Kea
South American Plate – Aconcagua
Oceania
The highest mountain in mainland Australia is Mount Kosciuszko, above sea level. However, the highest mountain on the Australian continent, which includes Australia and New Guinea, is Puncak Jaya, above sea level, in the Indonesian province of Papua and on the island of New Guinea, which shares the Sahul continental shelf with Australia. Mount Kosciuszko is considerably easier to climb, being a four-hour, grade 3 return walk from the nearest car park, while Puncak Jaya is classed as a mountaineering expedition with technical climbing, an approach through dense jungle and the need to charter an aircraft.
Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm () in Papua New Guinea's Bismarck Range (on the island of New Guinea, like Puncak Jaya) as the highest mountain on the Australian continent, on account of Indonesia being a part of Asia (see list of Southeast Asian mountains, which includes Puncak Jaya and other mountains in Western New Guinea, Indonesia). However, such a definition is political, not geophysical, and would mean that the western part of New Guinea changed continents in 1969.