Welcome to my new limited series on climbing the Seven Summits. For the next eight weeks, I'll drop a new episode discussing one of the 7 Summits in detail. Today is Episode 4, Antarctica's Vinson Massif.

The Vinson Massif is 16,050 feet/4892 meters high. The elevation gain from Vinson Base Camp to the summit is 9,160 feet/2792 meters, all on snow and ice-covered terrain. The primary issue most climbers face is the endless winds. Snow walls built from snow blocks carved out of the landscape are built at each camp to protect tents from the winds. Vision has a short climbing season on the Antarctica continent from mid-November to the end of January. It's also among the Seven's most expensive, in the mid $50,000 range for 2024. #7Summits

The 7 Summits idea was hatched and first accomplished by American Dick Bass. He started with six summits in 1983: Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Denali, Vinson and Kosciuszko. Then, with guide David Breashears, he became the oldest person, 55 at the time, to summit Everest in 1985. Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first to summit all seven with Carstensz in addition to Kosciuszko in 1986. Italy mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner summited all the peaks without supplemental oxygen, a first, and completed the task in 1986. #7summmits

Episodes will drop each week:

September 15: Introduction

September 22: Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia - 7,310/2228m

September 29: Mt. Blanc, France/Italy - 15,771'/4807m

October 6: Vinson, Antarctica - 16,067/4897m

October 13: Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea - 16,023/4884m

October 20: Elbrus, Russia - 18,513/5642m

October 27: Kilimanjaro, Africa - 19,340/5896m

November 3: Denali, Alaska - 20,320/6194m

November 10: Aconcagua, Argentina - 22,902/6960m

November 17: Everest, Nepal/Tibet - 29,035/8850m