James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

Archives for January 2019

Updated list of Volcanic Seven Summiters – January 2019

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Following my last blog on January 2019’s Sidley expedition, this blog updates the list of those who have now completed the Volcanic Seven Summits.

There are now 19 climbers on the list.  Five are women and 11 have also climbed one or other (or both) versions of the Seven Summits.

Kilimanjaro summit - one of the Volcanic Seven Summits
Kilimanjaro summit

For this list I have now omitted the date of the first summit as I am not sure of the usefulness of this information.  I have also added a completion number now that the numbers are increasing.  With the last Sidley expedition three people completed the Volcanic Seven Summits.  So I have noted these as 17th equal rather than seeking to give any of them preference over the other.

I am aware of a number of people who have just one more volcano to climb.  For most, this is Mount Sidley.  But I imagine that I am unaware of others who are close to finishing.  If anyone reading this blog has any information on those others I would be glad to have it.  Likewise if there are any errors or omissions in the list please let me know. I am always happy to correct these.

The Volcanic Seven Summits challenge becomes more popular.  The identification of the highest volcanoes on each continent was probably first published in the internet by Amar Andalkar on his ski mountaineering and climbing site back in 1999.  This site is still a good source of information though it has not been updated in recent times.

As a result the challenge is being marketed as such by leading operators such as Jagged Globe, Adventure Peaks, Seven Summits Club and Furtenbach Adventures.  I can foresee others jumping on the bandwagon though it is likely always to be less popular than the Seven Summits which has seen over 400 people complete.

The List

Climber, nationality and age at completion Date of Final Summit Final summit
1. Mario Trimeri (Italy) (58) 24th January 2011 Mount Sidley
Crina Popescu (Romania) (16) 24th January 2011 Mount Sidley
3. Vyechaslav Adrov (Russia) (50) 18th January 2013 Mount Sidley
4. Aleks Abramov (Russia) (47) 13th September 2013 Mount Giluwe
5. Olga Rumyantseva (Russia) (36) 9th December 2013 Ojos del Salado
6. Vitaliy Simonovic (Russia) (42) 19th December 2013 Ojos del Salado
7. Francois Bernard (Fr) (49) 17th January 2014 Mount Sidley
8. Sophie Cairns (UK) (32) 10th June 2014 Elbrus
9. Paul Nicholson (Canada) (50) 5th December 2014 Ojos del Salado
10. Liana Chabdarova (Russia) (28) 12th January 2015 Ojos del Salado
11. Andrey Filkov (Russia) (49) 16th September 2015 Damavand
12. James Stone (UK) (59) 14th January 2017 Mount Sidley
13. Daniel Bull (Australia) (36) 27th April 2017 Ojos del Salado
14. Katie Sarah (Australia) (49) 14th January 2018 Mount Sidley
15. David Hamilton (UK) (56) 10th February 2018 Ojos del Salado
16. Theodore (Ted) Fairhurst (Canada) (71) 9th December 2018 Ojos del Salado
17 Sándor (Sanya) Tóth (Hungary) (41) 15th January 2019 Mount Sidley
Satyarup Siddhanta (India) (35) 15th January 2019 Mount Sidley
Vladislav Lachkaryev (Russia) (42) 15th January 2019 Mount Sidley

Aleks Abramov, Vitaliy Simonovic, Dan Bull, Ted Fairhurst and Satyarup Siddhanta have also completed the seven continental summits (both Carstensz and Kosciuszko versions).

Mario Trimeri, François Bernard, David Hamilton and Vladislav Lachkaryev have completed the seven continental summits (Carstensz version).

Andrey Filkov and Katie Sarah have completed the seven continental summits (Kosciuszko version).

Mount Sidley ascents – update

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Mount Sidley from the air
Mount Sidley from the air

 

This is my annual update of Mount Sidley ascents.  ALE trip number 7 succeeded in putting two guides and three clients on the top of the volcano.  All three clients completed the Volcanic Seven Summits with this ascent.

A previous blog highlighted two of them.

This year, due to the small size of the team, a Twin Otter was used for transport to the mountain.  A second plane followed part of the way so a fuel cache could be left.  The Twin Otter with the team was unable this year to land in the crater.  Apparently snow conditions in the crater had changed since last year so a base camp was set up on the ice sheet at the foot of the mountain.

In another change from previous trips (at least when base camp had been on the ice sheet), high camp was set up via two carries from base camp and sleds were not used.  The first carry was undertaken in what became marginal conditions.  The team was then confined to base camp for two days whilst a storm blew through.

Once the storm had gone they were able to make the second carry and the top camp was set up.  After an “overnight” stay the group made the ascent.  Although the modelled forecasts looked promising, the weather was at first cloudy, then the sun came out and then (as the crater was being reached) it became cloudy again.  The wind also picked up and it became very cold.

Though Sidley is not a very technical mountain, it is a very cold one.  They were able to spend no more than about 15 minutes on top. They summited at about 1am GMT on 16th January (10pm on 15th January Chilean time).

The team was then able to make quick progress down back to top camp.

Satyarup Siddhanta was kind enough to call me using his satellite phone once they had settled back at top camp.  The three clients all seemed very cheerful, if tired.  In the meantime, back in India, there was a large group following the climb with a few Facebook Live events occurring.

The descent back down to the Twin Otter went without incident.  But the return to Union Glacier had a twist to it.  When they reached the fuel cache the weather there and at Union Glacier prevented further progress.  So they were pinned down for 24 hours at that point.  They had to set up camp and Satyarup’s description of the toilet arrangements probably do not bear repeating on a public forum!  That’s Antarctica for you.

As I write this, the team are now back safely at Union Glacier with a flight back to Punta Arenas scheduled for later today.  Even after this trip fewer than 50 people have ever climbed Mount Sidley.

Congratulations to Satyarup Siddhanta, Sanya Tóth and Vladislav Lachkarev.

I have produced an up to date list below.  This should be read together with the commentary in my previous blog here.

 

MOUNT SIDLEY SUMMIT LIST

(as at 18th January 2019)

Date Name Group Nationality
1. 11/01/1990 Bill Atkinson Panter Group New Zealand
2. 12/01/1990 Bill McIntosh Panter Group USA
3. 12/01/1990 Kurt Panter Panter Group USA
21/01/1994 Bill McIntosh (second ascent) Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
4. 21/01/1994 Nelia Dunbar Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
5. 21/01/1994 Thom Wilch Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
6. 21/01/1994 Tony Teeling Dunbar/ McIntosh NZ
7. 23/01/2011 Scott Woolums ALE #1 USA
8. 23/01/2011 Aleks Abramov ALE #1 Russia
9. 23/01/2011 Crina “Coco” Popescu ALE #1 Romania
10. 23/01/2011 Mario Trimeri ALE #1 Italy
11. 01/01/2012 Mike Roberts Roberts Group New Zealand
12. 01/01/2012 Jennifer Erxleben Roberts Group USA
13. 01/01/2012 John Paul O’Donnell Roberts Group Ireland
14. 01/01/2012 Andrew Lloyd Roberts Group USA
15. 18/01/2013 David Hamilton ALE #2 UK (Scotland)
16. 18/01/2013 Olga Rumyantseva ALE #2 Russia
17. 18/01/2013 Vyacheslav Adrov ALE #2 Russia
18. 18/01/2013 Vitaly Simonovich ALE #2 Russia
19. 18/01/2013 Paul Nicholson ALE #2 Canada
20. 28/12/2013 Dylan Taylor ALE #3 USA
21. 28/12/2013 Andre Filkov ALE #3 Russia
22. 28/12/2013 Ilya Bykov ALE #3 Russia
23. 28/12/2013 Sophie Cairns ALE #3 UK (England)/ Hong Kong
24. 28/12/2013 Liana Chabdarova ALE #3 Russia
25. 17/01/2014 Rob Smith ALE #4 UK (Northern Ireland)
26. 17/01/2014 Jean Frederik Paulsen ALE #4 Sweden
27. 17/01/2014 Francois Michel Bernard ALE #4 France
28. 17/01/2014 Christian de Marliave ALE #4 France
29. 17/01/2014 John Dodelande ALE #4 France
30. 17/01/2014 Joachim Marte ALE #4 Austria
31. 17/01/2014 Philipp Lehner ALE #4 Austria
32. 17/01/2014 Alexander Svaetichin ALE #4 Sweden
17/01/2014 Scott Woolums (second ascent) ALE #4 USA
33. 14/01/2017 Tre-C Dumais ALE #5 USA
34. 14/01/2017 Christoph Hoebenreich ALE #5 Austria
35. 14/01/2017 James Stone ALE #5 UK (England)
36. 14/01/2017 Dan Bull ALE #5 Australia
37. 14/01/2017 Jarryd Commerford ALE #5 USA/UK (England)
38. 14/01/2017 Robbi Malandreniotis ALE #5 UK (England)/Greece
39. 14/01/2017 Michael Guggolz ALE #5 Germany
40. 14/01/2018 Nate Opp ALE #6 USA
41. 14/01/2018 Theodore Fairhurst ALE #6 Canada
42. 14/01/2018 Katie Sarah ALE #6 Australia
43. 14/01/2018 Cheryl Bart ALE #6 Australia
44. 14/01/2018 Nikki Bart ALE #6 Australia
45. 15/01/2019 Maria Paz (Pachi) Ibarra ALE #7 Chile
46. 15/01/2019 Fred Alldredge ALE #7 USA
47. 15/01/2019 Satyarup Siddhanta ALE #7 India
48. 15/01/2019 Sándor (Sanya) Tóth ALE #7 Hungary
49. 15/01/2019 Vladislav Lachkarev ALE #7 Russia