The Ultimate Seven Summits Quiz

The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents, and were first climbed in their entirety on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass. The real challenge now is the Explorers Grand Slam, which includes the Seven Summits and the North and South poles. There are slight variations in the lists of the Seven Summits, particularly in the definition of a continent. These variations include Mont Blanc versus Mount Elbrus for Europe and Puncak Jaya versus Mount Kosciuszko for Australia. The generally accepted highest summit in Europe is Mount Elbrus, while Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America and Aconcagua is the highest mountain peak in South America. Reinhold Messner postulated a list replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Indonesia's Puncak Jaya, or Carstensz Pyramid, which is considered the more challenging list. Richard Bass was the first man to climb all Seven Summits in 1985, and in 1990, Rob Hall and Gary Ball became the first to complete the Seven Summits in seven months. Junko Tabei was the first woman to complete the Seven Summits in 1992, and Susan Ershler and her husband, Phil, became the first married couple to climb the Seven Summits together in 2002. Reinhold Messner was the first person to complete the Seven Summits without the use of supplemental oxygen on Mount Everest, and between 2002 and 2007, Austrian climber Christian Stangl completed the Seven Summits alone and without supplemental oxygen, with a record total ascent time of 58 hours and 45 minutes. On May 17, 2006, Rhys Jones became the youngest person to complete the Seven Summits at the age of 20, and in October 2006, Kit Deslauriers became the first person to have skied down parts of all seven peaks. Malli Mastan Babu set a Guinness world record by surmounting the Seven Summits in 172 days in 2006, and the world record for completion of the Messner and Bass list was 136 days, by Danish climber Henrik Kristiansen in 2008.Seven Summits: A record of climbers and achievements

• Carlos Soria Fontán, at the age of 71, completed the seven summits (Messner list) after reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro in January 2010.
• AC Sherpa summited Mount Everest as his last and final conquest of the Seven Summits (Bass list) on May 23, 2010, setting a new record by climbing the Seven Summits within 42 climbing days.
• As of December 2011, 118 people have climbed the Seven Summits (assuming "full" completion of the quest requires climbing the "Eight Summits" across both the Bass and Messner lists).
• In 2013, Vanessa O'Brien became the fastest female to complete the Seven Summits (including Carstensz Pyramid), finishing in 10 months.
• Werner Berger (Canada, ex-South African), at the age of 76 years and 129 days, became the oldest person in the world to complete the Seven Summits after a 6-day jungle trek to Carstensz Pyramid on November 21, 2013.
• Tashi and Nungshi Malik became the world's first twins and siblings to complete the Seven Summits (Messner list) on December 16, 2014.
• Colin O'Brady broke the record for the Messner and Bass lists in 131 days, summiting Vinson on January 17, 2016, and completing with Denali on May 27, 2016.
• Satyarup Siddhanta from India completed the Seven Summits and the Volcanic Seven Summits on January 15, 2019, at the age of 35 years and 261 days, breaking the record of Daniel Bull from Australia.
• Chris Bombardier became the first person with hemophilia to complete the Seven Summits (Messner list) on January 6, 2018.
• Silvia Vasquez-Lavado became the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits (including Carstensz Pyramid) on June 23, 2018.
• Arunima Sinha became the first female amputee to complete the Seven Summits (including Carstensz Pyramid) on January 4, 2019.
• Jon Krakauer wrote in Into Thin Air that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent, known as the Seven Second Summits – a feat that was not accomplished until January 2013.
• The Explorers Grand Slam includes the Seven Summits and both poles.