UKC

Instead of the traditional highest mountain on each continent, what would be your choice of the one mountain you would like to climb most in each continent?

In reply to nialldermody:

The second highest on each continent would be a bit stiffer challenge.

In reply to nialldermody:

Nice question.

Probably.

Europe - Eiger via North Face.
North America - Mt Robson.
South America - Cerro Torre.
Asia - K2.
Antarctica - Mt Vinson (Only one I know!).
Africa - Dunno really maybe Mount Kenya.
Australasia - Mt Cook?

In reply to nialldermody:

Mount Kenya for Africa, Half Dome (by Snake Dike) for N America, Badile (Cassin) or Matterhorn (maybe a traverse) for Europe and I'd need to think about the rest (not really that ambitious on a global scale)!

In reply to George Ormerod:

Still yet to be completed by anyone...

In reply to nialldermody: I've seen such a list compiled by someone else. I think Torre Egger was on their list.

For a striking non-plod European mountain I'd say the Matterhorn has to be a decent contender. Eiger NF seems obvious but I don't think you should go specifying route. If we're doing that then I reckon Orion Face on the Ben!

In reply to Flashy:

Why not if it affects 'your choice of the one mountain you would like to climb most'?

In reply to nialldermody:

Europe - Matterhorn
Asia - Ama Dablam
N. America - Mount Assiniboine
S. America - Alpamayo
Australasia - Mount Cook
Africa - Mount Kenya
Antarctica - ? A first ascent of something pointy?

Iain

In reply to petestack: I probably said that because the original list I saw was of the hardest mountains a climber could go and try. So, selecting a hard route on an easy mountain wouldn't work.

Given this is entitled alternative seven summits it should be about the summit rather than a particular route leading to it. I just thought that the spirit of that coincided with that of the list of hardest summits.

In reply to IainMunro:

Surely it has to be Europe: Matterhorn: Zmutt Ridge. That's based on reports of close friends of mine, some quite famous.
Ama Dablam - would be a very high contender if it hadn't been bolted and roped i.e. turned into a guiding peak.
I would have thought that in South America Fitzroy is the greatest of the real mountains. Cerro Torre is stupendous, but its summit is really beyond the ability of about 99.99 per cent of fit people on this planet.
Africa - Mount Kenya (Bation? or whatever it's called, not the thing that trekking companies call Mt Kenya) is obviously their best mountain. Ruwenzori has some interesting summits, but none of them look to be in anything like the same class. (Then there's that very weird and wonderful huge Ayer's Rock type thing in Nigeria, that is still virtually unknown in the west and is scarcely ever mentioned. I think it was first climbed only about 15-20 years ago)
North America - Mount Huntingdon?? .... Or Mount Robson (I'm really having to dredge in the memory banks right now, and I'm not sure I've got the right one)

In reply:

The list mentioned above was the June 2003 issue of Climbing mag, the 'Super 7'. They were
Asia - K2
Sth America -Torre Egger
Nth America - Kichatna Spire
Antarctica - Rakekniven
Europe - Shkara
Australasia - Mount Cook
Africa - Mount Kenya

The person with the most Second 7 Summits is Christian Stangl, who only has Tyree and K2 to go. He has attempted K2 3x and Tyree 2x.

My personal 7?
Asia - Kanjut Sar
Nth America - Hayes
Sth America - Huantsan
Antarctica - Tyree
Australasia - Tasman
Europe - Weisshorn
Africa - Mt Kenya

D

I want to climb Ama Dablam, have wanted to for years. I know people say it's bolted now and not the climb it was, but bloody hell it's a proper summit. One day!

In reply to Talius Brute:

You could go via a different route to the fixed route

In reply to nialldermody:

If you want dangerous/difficult for the highest peaks: Out of my league anyway... oh well

Fantasy Ridge on Everest
Czech Direct on Denali, or the East Face
South Face of Aconcagua
Breach Wall Direct on Kili
Mount Tyree probably harder than Vinson

Don't know about Carstensz
Elbrus & Kozzie don't really have hard ones.

Then we'll crawl up them backwards on banana skins!

In reply to nialldermody:

How about...

Asia - K2's Magic Line
S America - Cerro Torre's Ferrari Route
N America - Denali's Slovak Direct
Africa - Mt Kenya's Diamond Couloir
Australasia - Mt Cook's Clit Route
Antarctica - Norwegian Route on the N face of Ulvetanna Spire (Got to post a photo of this. That's 1km high!)http://www.alpinist.com/media/ALP18/antarctica-1.jpg
Europe - Super-integral de Peuterey to MB

In reply to Mr Lopez:

You know how they say "the mountains will always be there"? Well I'm kicking myself for not having a crack at this when it was still doable for numpties like me, I think it was the equivalent of Scottish III when I first looked at it.

Just had a look now and found this in an article titled 'Diamond Couloir Still Climbable'; "In August, however, Kitty Calhoun and Jay Smith climbed the full Diamond Couloir, starting with about 30 feet of M7 dry tooling on overhanging volcanic rock..."

Anyone got a 30ft ladder I can borrow? :-p

In reply to nialldermody: Understandable though it is to nominate K2 in Asia, Gasherbrum IV would be a juicier cherry to pick - although you might think twice about including it if you actually wanted to reach the summit...

T.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Do you mean the Hand of Fatima in Mali? The one that Catherine Destivelle was filmed on? There's a few Brits been out there.

My Seven?

Asia - Gasherbrum IV
Europe - Matterhorn
N. America - Mt Assinboine
S. America - Cerro Torre
Africa - Mt Kenya
Australasia - dunno
Antarctica - dunno

If we were going on routes then I'd have the North Face of North Twin for N. America (sorry about the alliteration there!); 1938 route on the Eiger; Diamond Couloir on Mt Kenya; Norwegian Route on Trango Tower;

ALC

In reply to nialldermody:
At the moment, it will probably be changed within 2 days lol

Europe - Shkhara georgian routes
N-Amerika - Mt Russell - Fishhook Arrete
South America - Aconcagua - Polish Direct
Asia - Ka-er-daxi - Route doesn't matter
Antarctica - Mount Sidley - Coast-sidley-coast
Africa - Mount Kenya - no specific route (although just climbing in Mali would also be cool)
Oceania - Puncak Jaya

In reply to nialldermody:
If you want a mountaineering challenge, then who not have The Ogre for Asia?

In reply to almost sane:

beat me to it, so i will nominate latok 1.

In reply to Mither Tap:
... I think it was the equivalent of Scottish III when I first looked at it.

I think that was 2005, same year Donini tried it? That year the Ice Window route got a few ascents, so there's still a WI3 way up the mountain, at least in some years. Not sure the original Diamond Couloir was ever that easy, at least the direct finish.

My N America choice would have to be Thor Peak's 'West Face Direct'.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Mount_Thor.jpg

In reply to sjarelkwint:


S,
Well if you have a spare $45K you can join a Russian trip there this season. You don't want to go anywhere near that coast though.

BIGWALL 7 summits

Europe - aiguille du dru
Asia - trango tower
N. America - great sail peak
S. America - Cerro Torre
Australasia - balls pyramid
Africa - Karambony
Antarctica - Troll Castle, queen maud land

In reply to Damo:
Russians walk to fast and don't stop for blizzards
they will get me killed ... lol

In reply to a lakeland climber:

No, I meant Zuma Rock, Abuja, Nigeria. I was teasing a little bit because obviously Mount Kenya is a much finer summit.

In reply to nialldermody: I'd suggest making it the 8 summits and adding the Arctic, doing something in Greenland.

In reply to nialldermody:

Even reaching the highpoint of greenland looks nasty ...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Watkinsmountains.jpg

But ain't greenland part of North America?

In reply to sjarelkwint: All of the Arctic is part of one continent or another, I just suggested it as a sporting idea!

In reply to nialldermody:
What about mad traverses/ridges?

Europe - Damilanos utterly mindbending MB massif link-up
Asia - Latok 1 or Annapurna III?
North America - Don't know enough but some of the ones on Foraker and Hunter look sufficiently aesthetic, scary and cold.
South America - Garibotti ridiculous Fitzroy traverse
Australasia - ?
Africa - ?
Antarctica - ?

In reply to Mither Tap:

Don't know when you 'last looked at it', but AFAIK it always had a first and last pitch of WI5 with sustained WI3/4 in between.

True it's not in condition as often as i wished it was, more like hardly ever, but i reckon i still have 20 odd years to get lucky...

In reply to Mr Lopez:

My mistake, I was thinking of the Ice Window route, and this was in the early '90s... Last time I looked into doing it (a good few years ago now), the ice had retreated so much it wasn't considered doable at all, although I don't know if that was a particularly bad year(?).

In reply to Mither Tap:

Europe - Grand Jourasses via No Siesta
Asia - Latok 1 via the North Ridge
N. America - Mt Hunter
S. America - FITZ ROY, LINEA DE ELEGANZA or Royal Flush
Australasia - No idea
Africa - Tsaranoro, Madagascar
Antarctica - Some thing new

In reply to E9 Temp:

I know it's not as high, but how about Mt Huntingdon?

In reply to Mither Tap:

Looks great, The French Ridge looks super cool.

In reply to Mither Tap: yes it is annoying isn't i think kinber guided it at least once at scottish vish

In reply to alasdair19: i have a friend who is trying new routes on 7 continents he has vinson to go.. cause its expensive!

In reply to nialldermody:

There is a guy (Oliver Metherell) who is making it his mission to make a decent first ascent on every continent.

On a similar note, I have been toying with the idea of trying to make a first ascent in every country with a name ending in "stan".

Afghanistan - Plenty of alpine first ascents to be had there.

Kazakhstan - Doesn't seem so good for unclimbed summits but probably good for new alpine route potential.

Kyrgyzstan - Done.

Pakistan - Also plenty to do there.

Tajikistan - As for Kazakhstan.

Turkmenistan - no snowy mountains (but that didn't stop their former president having a ski resort built!). There must be some new rock routes to do though.

Uzbekistan - Seems to be plenty of stuff to do roughly around the triple point with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan but obviously not the safest place to visit right now...

In reply to monkey kong:


?????

tajikistan houses most of the pamirs - arguably the greatest untouched mountain wilderness anywhere.

turkmenistan has some biggish walls in the SW that are most likely unclimbed, tho hard to get to.

good idea.

In reply to ice.solo:


My impression of the Pamirs was that they were climbed in extensively during the Soviet era. After all, in the case of Kyrgyzstan the only reason the Kokshaal-Too mountains along the Chinese border have so many unclimbed peaks is because access was forbidden during the Soviet era.

In reply to monkey kong:

All the major peaks were climbed, and all the mountains over 6000m, but there is still loads of unclimbed routes. The bulk of the Soviet stuff was on the 7000ers, which have had literally thousands of ascents, but there's whole ranges in Tajikstan with very little done and almost no knowledge of them in the west. Plenty of the 6000ers have only been climbed once, and there's some pretty impressive terrain in there.

If you can find it, Mountain Review #9 July-August 1994 has a complete list of 6000m peaks of the Tien Shan and Pamir, with basic FA info. The few without ascents at that time have since been nabbed, AFAIK.

In reply to monkey kong:

You'd better get on with it, or you'll have Dagestan to add to your list.
Maybe.

Y

In reply to Yanchik:

Haha yes, that might make it significantly more dangerous.

In reply to Damo:

Damo,

I'm replying to your comment about Christian Stangl above, in light of the thread on fraudulent claims (specifically related to Rich Simpson). You note that he only has two more mountains left to become the first person to complete the Second Seven Summits. Based on his fradulent claims on K2, are any other of his ascents on that list in doubt? I'm specifically interested in Puncak Trikora as I've just come off it. I'm aware of one other contender chasing this goal - have you heard of Dr. Andries Botha?

http://extremedoctor.blogspot.com/

I've emailed Dr. Botha about his recent claimed ascent of Puncak Trikora because I turned back from the true summit about 30-50m below due to the risk of trying to climb solo (it's horribly exposed). I have no real reason to doubt either of these claims (apart from my professional scepticism). I've asked Dr. Botha to provide photos and GPS co-ordinates to compare with my own (I await his response). I would find it really annoying if someone claimed to be the first to climb the Second Seven Summits without having evidence to prove it. And it would be hard for people to disprove such a claim, since it is climbed so infrequently and is a pain in the ass to get to. However, I took up a Canon G11, a small Sony HD camcorder and a GPS so I would expect others, who wanted to claim a record, would do the same.

Cheers, Ricky.

In reply to rickyclimb:


Ricky,
I haven't spoken with Chris in a while and didn't ask him about any of the other summits. I seem to recall that for Oceania/Australasia he climbed Ngga Pulu when he did Carztenz, and his site seems to indicate that.

The account (badly translated by Google) of Dykh-Tau sounds plausible and he claims to have had a film cameraman down low, so there might be evidence of that, but he does state the film guy stayed low, which is understandable given the reputation of DT. His description of the true summit seems to indicate knowledge that would not be apparent from looking at it from down below. But to be honest, I don't know 100%.

I've never had much interest in Carstenz and that area, so I have no opinion on what should be the 2nd7 for Oceania/Australasia. I've seen plenty of people over the years refer to Ngga Pulu as the 2nd highest there, but I'm not sure of its prominence etc.

I'd never heard of the 'amazing Dr. Botha' but as his own website describes him as 'amazing' and says that he will 'soon .. reach the summits' of the second-seven, with K2 and Tyree still to do, you'll understand if I don't get too excited just yet.

Hans Kammerlander, Piotr Pustelnik and, I think?, Fredrik Strang are also interested in the Second-Seven. Of course Kammerlander and Pustelnik have the massive advantage of having climbed K2 already.

D

In reply to rickyclimb:

If you like chasing records may i suggest you take athletics instead?

You get to wear tiny shorts, the money and fame is better, and you won't have the urge to question what fellow sportsmen do or do not, as there's a bunch of gentlemen with clipboards, watches and other hi-tech gear watching your every move.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Thanks Damo, very helpful.

Mr. Lopez, - unless you're Rich Simpson? Strange comment to make in light of the rest of this thread.