Climbing The Seven Summits

Aconcagua; Denali; Elbrus; Everest; Kilimanjaro; Kosciuszko; Vinson. To a climber these mountains are known as the Seven Summits" - the highest peaks on each continent. And from Antarctica to Alaska Nepal to Tanzania each year thousands of climbers from all over the world attempt at least one of them while a growing number have plans to climb each and every mountain. Drawing on years of experience veteran Seven Summit mountain guide Mike Hamill describes overall considerations for expedition planning and high-altitude trips gear recommendations tips on international travel and logistics and estimates of financial costs. In-depth descriptions of each of the Seven Summits include a regional map a map of the primary climbing route a route overlay on a photo and a sample climbing
itinerary that covers peak-specific technical climbing tips and what to expect on summit day. Throughout Hamills descriptions renowned alpinists offer their own advice: Eric Simonson on Everest Vern Tejas on Denali and Melissa Arno on a females perspective of expedition planning. Hamill also includes the "other" Seven Summit the Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea; climbing facts and figures for each peak; a history of the Seven Summits challenge; and a unique "compare and contrast" chart that reveals how the peaks stack up against each other. From the first steps of trip dreaming to figuring out gear and plane tickets to kicking those final sublime steps up to the snowy top of Denali or Aconcagua - this is the one-and-only authoritative book to guide readers to all of the
worlds Seven Summits. Mike Hamill is a year-round guide for International Mountain Guides and the Alaska Mountaineering School. Professionally and personally he has travelled and climbed extensively on all seven continents including at least two times up each of the big Seven (including 40 times up Aconcagua 10 times up Denali and 5 times up Everest). Through the course of a year Hamill regularly guides clients up each of the Seven Summits and with his IMG colleagues he was recently featured on the Discovery Channels popular "Everest: Beyond the Limit." He lives in Seattle."