5- Vinson Massif ( Antarctica )

Firstly and everlasting named after Carl Vinson.

C. Vinson was a representative congressman from Georgia who constantly supported the funding for research in Antarctica.

The massif was discovered in January 1958 by U.S. Navy aircraft; it is located on the west side of the Antarctica about 1200 km from South Pole center.

Its peak, mount Vison, measures 4 892 m ( 16,050 feet).

The environment is stabilized by ice cap’s high-pressure system; snow falls are lesser consistent than years ago and the snow is converted into glaciers which are numerous in its area of prominence.

The first successful climbing was concluded in 1966 by two groups together and led by Nicholas Clinch, a recruited AAC’s (American Alpine Club) member.

So the so-called campaign AAME ( American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition ) begun; among its crew there were ten scientists and ten mountaineers; they had been divided into three groups.

The first AAME US expedition group, among climbers were Nicholas Clinch, reached the summit at, almost, midday on the 18th December 1966; four more on the following day and the last three on December the 20th.

The climb from a technical perspective was not difficult, but what it did was the frigid temperatures and the remote location; the challenging climb was faced up in the summer’s Antarctic period with temperatures around – 20 degrees Celsius (-4 F).

The climbers : Nicholas Clinch, Barry Corbet, John Evans, Eiichi Fukushima, Charles Hollister, William Long, Brian Marts, Peter Schoening Samuel Silverste and Richard Wahlstrom.

1966-1967 AMME

4-  Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa- Tanzania)

Included in the UNESCO as natural heritage in 1987, the Kilimanjaro pops out from the National Kilimanjaro National Park.

By its Kibo’s peak, 5895 meters/19341 feet, it is actually the highest mountain’s edge in Africa.

It is a “sleeping” volcano allegedly known since remote time, thousands of old tales and deities came out from it in African culture; in 1519, a Spanish traveler visiting Mombasa wrote down the mountain local description as the mountain of the moon, source of the Nile.

Throughout the decades, the several and thick glaciers, on it, are melting down; An important project suggests a major and definitive ice melting between 2025 and 2035.

Situated on the south-east Africa coast, this mountain has been many times attempted to be escalated in vain.

In 1848 was a German missionary, named Rebmann, the first European to ever-announce the real existence of the Kilimanjaro; since then unknown for Europeans.

Nonetheless, due to extreme ice and cold conditions, a lot of attempted had been made until Hans Meyer at his third try carried out the whole climbing in 1889 with his climber-companion Ludwig Purtscheller.

On the 5th October 1889, Meyer with Purtscheller and a local guide named Yohani Kinyala Lauwo ascended the entire mountain.

Their first attempt was voided due the weather; in the second shot they had been taken as prisoner during a local revolt;

The third and successful time smartly they managed to set on different supply courts under the peak; It allowed them to have a secure place where withdraw if needed.

Ludwig Purtscheller considered one of the greatest climber of all times

Hans Meyer the climber who never loses the reliance to attempt to ascend the Kilimanjaro

Yohani Kinyala Lauwo

3- Denali ( North America – Alaska )

Denali takes its name from the ancient term used by the Koyukon people, who inhabit the area, to refer to it for centuries as high mountain.

It is the third world most prominent peak on earth, with an elevation of 6,190 ( 20,310 feet) above sea level.

Generated thanks by a tectonic pressure from different plates, the Pacific and the North America, this mountain is impressively high.

The matter of the rock is composed of granitic pluton.

On it, five glaciers are countable plus two summit the South, the highest and the more trackable, and the North rarely climbed.

Since the first unlucky efforts at the beginning of the twentieth century, just one year before the completeness of the ascent in 1912 the expedition stopped less than 100 meters from the edge.

The noble outcome was awarded to the expedition led by Hudson Stuck, an Episcopal priest, Harry Karstens, a former gold rusher,  Walter Harper, a 21-year-old skilled outdoorsman, and Robert Tatum a theologian student, at first, recruited as cooker for the escalation.

Even if in the summer, the temperatures allegedly might have been around -15/-30 degrees (5/-22 F).

The minimum recorded temperature , in spite of an accurate detection, was certain in the attainment of -73 degrees / – 100 F in the 60s and 70s on Denali.

On June 7th 1913, the climbers achieved the summit.

Looking back on what written about those moments, Robert Tatum once described: “the view from the top of the mountain was like looking out the windows of Heaven“.

The difficulty due to the extreme cold weather conditions was awfully great.

There had been pioneered new “easier” routes in order to get the peak, but only years later.

2- ACONCAGUA ( South America- Argentina )

It is the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere; elevating up to 6961 meters ( 22,838 feet).

It has many summits most of which are glaciers; altogether it is one the peak forming the Cordillera of the Andes.

The name, according to an interpretation, taken from Aymara: “Janqu’u Q’awa” would mean White Ravine.

To Incas, who worship Aconcagua as a sacred mountain, it used to be a place where had been offered sacrifices.

A  7-year-old Inca child baby body was found in 1985 amid the ices at 5300 meters (17,400 feet); the Aconcagua mummy would date back to 1500 years before Christ; It is quite certain to be one among many child sacrificed at the time.

It reveals the admiration ancient people had for this mountain, moreover, it is not very difficult to climb.

The first successful European’s ascent, accomplished by Matthias Zurbriggen in 1897, a high non-technical route was standardly pioneered;

The, so called, Normal route which is possible to do without using any ropes, pins and axes at all…

Nonetheless, the risk due to its elevation and coldness can’t be underrated.

In 1897 during Edward Fitzgerald’s expedition, led and financed by himself, he attempted 8 times to overcome the last hundred meters of Aconcagua; not achieving it, he generously decided to leave a Swiss guide, by whom he had been impressed, the already quoted Matthias Zurbriggen, to keep on ascending alone.

By this way, on 14 January 1897 the Suisse mountaineering reached Aconcagua’s peak.

This mountain, arising above Mendoza, have claimed many lives; the suddenness by which weather changes, due to the thinner troposphere, have been fatal…

Another symptom difficult to handle is once climbers overcome the threshold of 6000 meters ( 20’000 feet); in fact, the air rarefied and the altitude sickness can led to asphyxia.

By the way, nowadays the beauty of this way does not prevent people from venturing to Aconcagua’s peak.

The financier of several expeditions on Aconcagua: Edward FitzGerald

The first man to ascent Aconcagua : Matthias Zurbriggen

1- EVEREST  (ASIA- CINA/NEPAL)

The highest mountain on earth.

Its peak measures 8848,86 meters.

As first paramount, this mass of rock, snow and ice collected many lives but also many triumphs.

It is also known with the name of Chomolungma, that in Tibetan means “Holy Mother of the Universe”.

Its origin went back to 60 million years ago, during Cenozoic, in a followed clash between India and Asia plaques.

On Himalayas regions are visible many typical animals who can survive these extremes conditions; There are red pandas, snow leopards, Himalayan black bear, pika ( a close rabbit mammal ), yak – the hairy cattle-,  jumping spiders and the Himalayan tahr.

In the last part of the climbing is quite difficult, but not impossible, to achieve the summit without an oxygen supply.

Up from 8000 meters oxygen drastically falls to 16 %.

More than 300 persons have died on Everest; Avalanches, falls, AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), exhaustion and frostbite are the major causes.

Once renamed peak 15, the Royal Geographical Society in 1865 in honor of a Walsh surveyor, George Everest, gave this name to the mountain.

The first  successful ascent was carried out in 1953 just in 16 days via the southeast ridge route.

The ninth British expedition led by John Hunt chose two couples in order to reach the mountain’s maximum elevation: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans the first pair, secondarily,  the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the a Nepali sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

On 26 May 1953 the first team stopped within 100 meters / 330 feet of the summit letting their companions taking the possibility to use further oxygen caches; in fact, two days later a second attempt was made, this time, by the second team of climbers who at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953 finally got the top of the world.

On the left Tenzing Norgay / On the right Edmund Hillary

Each one of the mountaineer acknowledged the other for the remarkable outcome obtained…

Undisputedly in a environment where life smells of death every breath is a survive, you can’t beat on what does not have consistency for it there is a light of hope whenever a men can rely on another…

When two men together decided to deal with a deadly bet, a survival challenging or simply a  passion then brotherhood  can shine demonstrating, by staving away the dark, how much union matters.

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