A friend of mine said that I should actually say something smart about the mountains I have been climbing virtually. So here are the ones I have already finished:
Mount Kosciuszko
At 2228 meters (7310 feet), Mount Kosciuszko is a lot shorter than other mountains from the Seven Summits list. It’s the tallest mountain of mainland Australia and is part of Snowy Mountains. It was discovered by a Polish explorer Pawel Edmund Strzelecki and he named it after famous Polish general Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Mount Kosciuszko is not only shorter than other mountains on the Seven Summits list, but it’s also easier to climb. I read that until 1977, you could drive your car pretty much all the way to the top! I have a feeling mommy is planning a trip there for the two of us…
Vinson Massif
Second shortest mountain on the list of seven summits is Vinson Massif, tallest mountain in Antarctica. It’s only 16 050 feet (4892 meters) tall. Vinson Massif is part of Ellsworth Mountains and is only 750 miles away from the South Pole. It’s so far away from where people live that its height wasn’t measured until 1969. It was named after senator Carl Vinson from Georgia, who supported expeditions to Antarctica. Vinson Massif doesn’t require one to be an awesome climber. However, you have to deal with the usual issues of polar expedition, such as cold winds.
Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus, at 18 510 feet (5642 meters), is the highest mountain in the Caucasus Mountains. It’s an inactive volcano covered by snow and ice. Caucasus Mountains are the border between Asia and Europe, which leads to a problem with choosing tallest mountain in Europe: which side does Elbrus belong to? One way people choose to decide is into which continent water flows into from them (it’s called watershed). Based on that, Elbrus is in Europe.
There are several routes to the top of Elbrus. The ‘normal route’ actually involves travelling by cable car and chair lift a good chunk of the way and if you move quickly and efficiently, you can get back the same day.
Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro, tallest mountain in Africa, is 19 341 feet (5895 meters) tall. It’s in Tanzania and it’s not a part of any mountain range. It’s an inactive stratovolcano. Mount Kilimanjaro has 3 cones – Shira, Mawenzi and Kibo. The first two are completely extinct, but the last one is only dormant. Europeans tried naming this mountain when they were colonizing Africa and called it Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze. We went back to calling it Kilimanjaro though, which means ‘shining mountain’ in Swahili (local languages).
Mount Kilimanjaro is relatively easy to climb to the top, at least when you’re talking about the tallest mountains on each continent. You can walk up to the top, like on Mount Kosciuszko. There are two big differences though. The road doesn’t get as close to the top, so it takes between 7 and 9 days to get to the top. The greatest challenge is altitude sickness (and from what I’ve been told – some are not ok with lack of bathrooms).