What year was each continent’s highest peak first summited?
Tops in the land...
(AP Photo/Tashi Sherpa, File)
While many know that Mt. Everest is the highest point in Asia (and if we’re talking from sea level, the world), few can pinpoint the year when the infamous peak was first summited. As for the other highest elevations on each continent? Forget successful ascents—just naming the other six can sometimes produce nothing more than a hazy guess.
To help solve this trivia-night roadblock, we’re heading outdoors and taking another e-hike across the continents, searching for the highest summits in the land—and when each of them had its inaugural triumphant climb.
(Note: The Seven Summits consist of a little geographical tug-of-war, where both the Australian and European peaks aren’t undisputed. We’re not ones for upsetting the scientific apple cart, so we listed both in each instance.)
Australia — *Mount Kosciuszko (7,310 feet)
(TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images)
There are significantly higher points within areas claimed by Australia—hence some of the disputes—but if we’re talking about the mainland, it’s Kosciuszko, which was first summited in 1840.
Europe — *Mount Blanc (15,407 feet)
(Thomas Muncke/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Another one of the geographical arguments comes from the highest summit in Europe. And if you omit Mt. Elbrus and include it as part of the Asian peaks, then Blanc would be the highest in the land. Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat made the first successful summit back in 1786.
Australia — *Puncak Jaya (16,024 feet)
(ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images)
Heinrich Harrer (who you might know as Brad Pitt’s character in “Seven Years in Tibet”) made the difficult ascent with three other expedition members in 1962.
Antartica — Mount Vinson (16,050 feet)
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Climbers first successfully summited Antarctica’s highest peak in 1966.
Europe — *Mount Elbrus (18,510 feet)
(Photo credit: Aleksandra Larinzeva/Kommersant/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)
The highest point on Mt. Elbrus was reached by an expedition crew led by F. Crauford Grove in 1874.
Africa — Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet)
(YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)
The popular climb among outdoor adventurers was first successfully summited in 1889.
North America — Denali (20,322 feet)
(Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
The first of the world’s peaks that tops 20,000 feet, Denali has somewhat shadowed history. Dr. Frederick Cook—a man who also claimed to reach the North Pole in 1908—claimed he had successfully made it to the Denali peak in 1906. The first verified ascent wasn’t until 1913, though.
South America — Aconcagua (22,838 feet)
(MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images)
The picturesque highest point in the Andes mountain range was first successfully summited in 1897.
Asia — Mount Everest (29,032 feet)
(LAKPA SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images)
The top of the world. Mt. Everest has become a bucket list climb for many people—trained mountaineer or not. But it will forever be the 1953 expedition led by Jon Hunt that sits atop the pinnacle of pinnacles in the climbing world.
Related: The highest and lowest natural elevation in each of the 50 states
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