Mount Elbrus is a dormant volcano and the highest mountain in Europe. Its summit is 18,510 feet (5,642 meters) above sea level. It is located in Russia.
With an elevation of 18,510 feet (5,642 meters), it is part of the Caucasus Range that straddles Asia and Europe, although most geographers place it in Europe. This makes it the tallest mountain in Europe and one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains in each of the continents and elite climbers aspire to summit all of them.
Mount Elbrus’ prominence —a measure of how distinct a mountainis from nearby peaks — is 15,554 feet (4,741 m), making it the 10th most prominent mountain in the world. The east summit is slightly lower at 18,442 feet (5,621 m).
Elbrus has a unique cable car system, which was built on the south side of the mountain from 1959 to 1976. The cable car reaches 12,500 feet (3,658 m). From there, most climbers take the Standard Route up the south side to the summit.
While the lack of crevasses can lull climbers into a false sense of safety, the Standard Route is challenging due to the snow, high winds and a high elevation. About 15 to 30 climbers die each year, which is a fairly high ratio of climbers to climber deaths when compared to other mountains.
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Mount Kosciuszko is the tallest mountain peak in mainland Australia at 2,228 meters (7,310 feet) tall. It is located in the state of New South Wales, in the southeastern part of the country. It is not technically Australia’s largest peak, because a volcano (Mawson Peak) on the Australian-owned Heard Island off the coast of Antarctica is taller. While Mawson Peak is politically part of Australia, geographically it is considered to be “sub-Antarctica.”
The mountain is sometimes included as part of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge, in which mountain climbers summit the tallest mountain on every continent. There is some controversy over whether Mount Kosciuszko or Indonesia’s Puncak Jaya should be the seventh mountain. This debate comes from the geographical definition of the continent of Australia/Oceania. Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on Australia, however, when taking into account all of Oceania, Puncak Jaya in Indonesia is technically the higher mountain. Many climbers climb both mountains to cover all bases.
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Saturday, October 17. 2020
Vinson Massif is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is 21 km (13 mi) long and 13 km (8 mi) wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Climbed for the first time in 1966, Vinson still sees very few visitors and remains a pristine and majestic peak. To reach this remote area of the world, we fly from Punta Arenas, Chile and land on the blue ice runway of Union Glacier. A short flight then brings us to Vinson Base Camp at the foot of the Branscomb Glacier in the Ellsworth Mountains. From here we ascend the Branscomb Glacier and climb the headwall on Vinson, setting up two camps along the way. Summit Day is one of the most spectacular of any big climb in the world: as we ascend from our High Camp (12,400') the views of the immense ice sheets which surround the Massif gradually come into view, the final steep push up the summit ridge is exhilarating but not technically difficult, and standing atop this remote summit a climber looks for miles in all directions onto a landscape virtually untouched by humans.
Most climbers ascend up the Branscomb Glacier, known as the Normal Route, and make it in about 10 days. About 1,000 climbers have summited Mt. Vinson, much fewer than the other Seven Summits. While other summits are more challenging from a technical climbing perspective, the cold, windy conditions and the short window of opportunity to climb keep many climbers from making it to the top. There is also the cost involved, which can be $30,000 or more because of the summit's remoteness.
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