ACCOMPLISH your
7 sUMMITS PROJECT
Around 1980, an American businessman named Richard (Dick) Daniel Bass introduced the idea of the Seven Summits climbing circuit consist of the seven highest peaks on seven continents.
Those are Everest (8,848 masl) in Asia, Kilimanjaro (5,895 masl) in Africa, Vinson Massif (4,897 masl) at the South Pole (Antarctica), Elbrus (5,642 masl) in Europe, North America with McKinley peak (6,194 masl), South America with Aconcagua (6,962 masl), and the last one is Kosciuszko (2,228 masl) in Australia.
It was known as the "Bass List" and he became the first person who complete his 7 summits by reaching the summit of Everest on April 30, 1985.
However, the “Bass List” was later revised by the legendary Italian climber, Reinhold Messner by replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Carstenz Pyramid which is considered to be on the same plate as Australia, namely the Australasian Plate.
This Messner revision is known as the “Messner List” – and has become more popular in the world. The Seven Summit version of the Messner List was first completed by Patrick Alan Morrow (Canada) on August 5, 1986, followed by Messner himself a few months later, namely on December 3, 1986.
Then two opinions emerged, some acknowledged Bass's Seven Summits version and some acknowledged Messner's version more. Some even tried both versions of the circuit. But it seems that climbers now tend to Carstensz Pyramid, very likely because it is more challenging than Kosciuszko's peak which can be reached very easily.
CArSTENSZ PYRAMID
In 16 February 1623, Jan Carstensz, captain of a small boat from the Netherlands that was sailing in southern Papua, saw a very high mountain range in West Papua hinterland and some of its parts covered with snow through his binocular. Jan became the first European who saw that mountain range. He described its location that close to the Equator at a distance of approximately 10 mile inside the hinterland. His report was not trusted in Europe, whereas in some time ahead there was also news about snow on Andes Mountain, in South America near the Equator.
Some years later in 1899, there was the Dutch expedition in charge of making maps in Irian Jaya, who discover the truth of Jan Carstensz’s report, which had been made almost three centuries earlier. Moreover, they named the glacier area as Carstensz Toppen or peaks of Carstensz. Since twentieth century, there were records of two expedition teams that trying to reach the area.