Ojos del Salado Archives

Volcanic Seven Summits: Defining the Continents

5th December 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

I was inspired to write this blog by an essay written by the late Adam Helman (here). A comment made in my blog on Australia’s highest volcano (here) also gave me a push. Adam Helman’s essay discussed the fact that it is quite possible to define the Seven Summits differently from the traditional Bass (Kosciuszko) and Messner (Carstenz) versions. He identified that (depending on which version of “continent” was adopted) there are 12 mountains that qualify as continental summits. So with thanks to Adam Helman, this blog defines the continents in the manner he adopted and lists the Volcanic Seven Summits (or is it 11?)

Definition by tectonic plate

There are seven continental-sized continental plates, though one is largely under water. Asia and Europe are not separate continents in this respect. Therefore, as Adam Helman pointed out, if you treat the Eurasian plate as one continent Mount Elbrus would have no place on any Seven Summits list because Mount Everest is higher.

In the case of the volcanoes, however, Mount Elbrus just exceeds Mount Damavand in height. So Mount Elbrus retains its place in the list with this definition and Damavand is relegated.

Elbrus - one of the volcanic seven summits. Or does your definition of Continent exclude it? — **Elbrus**

The Pacific plate is one of the seven continental plates. Therefore the first of the lists includes Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii on this basis.

So lists I-A and I-B look like this (with list I-B excluding the Pacific plate):

List 1-A.

Name of tectonic plate	Volcanic Seven Summits
African	Kilimanjaro
Antarctic	Mount Sidley
Australian	Mount Giluwe
Eurasian	Mount Elbrus
North American	Pico de Orizaba
Pacific	Mauna Kea
South American	Ojos del Salado

List I-B.

Name of tectonic plate	Volcanic Six Summits
African	Kilimanjaro
Antarctic	Mount Sidley
Australian	Mount Giluwe
Eurasian	Mount Elbrus
North American	Pico de Orizaba
South American	Ojos del Salado

Definition by Topographic Prominence

I have blogged about topographical prominence. I agree with Adam Helman that “Prominence is an excellent, objective measure of a mountain’s vertical stature“. Therefore the essay explains that a list on this basis would need to include mountains that had saddles at or near to sea-level and are well separated from one another.

Kilimanjaro summit - one of the Volcanic Seven Summits. It always appears, whatever your definition of continent — **Kilimanjaro summit**

This approach changes the traditional separation of Asia and Europe. So the Ural mountains are no longer at the divide. Instead the Kuma–Manych Depression is the basis of the divide. Mount Elbrus then reverts to Asia and Mount Etna becomes the European volcano.

List II-A.

Continent	Volcanic Seven Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Mount Elbrus
Europe	Mount Etna
North America	Pico de Orizaba
Oceania	Mount Giluwe
South America	Ojos del Salado

Definition by Continental Outline

This definition recognises that Europe exists as a cultural and political concept, but cannot be justified on geographical grounds. Therefore there are only six volcanoes on this list. Mount Etna disappears and Brumlow Top makes its first appearance because Australia (and not Australasia or Oceania) is now the continent.

Brumlow Top summit - not normally regarded as one of the Volcanic Seven Summits — ***The rather uninspiring summit of Brumlow Top***

List III-A.

Continental outline	Volcanic Six Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Mount Elbrus
Australia	Brumlow Top
North America	Pico de Orizaba
South America	Ojos del Salado

Political definition

The concepts of geology and topography do not constrain this definition. Using the essay’s approach the intriguing and extremely remote Mawson Peak on Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean makes an appearance.

Mawson Peak has only had a couple of ascents. It would undoubtedly be the most difficult peak of all those listed here to climb. Not only is it remote, but it also suffers from terrible weather and is still occasionally active. Obtaining the relevant access permits could also be a problem.

There is an article on the first ascent here.

So there are two lists depending on whether you apply the political criterion to “Australia” or “Australasia”.

List IV-A.

Continent	Volcanic Seven Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Mount Damavand
Australia	Mawson Peak
Europe	Mount Elbrus
North America	Pico de Orizaba
South America	Ojos del Salado

List IV-B.

Continent	Volcanic Seven Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Mount Damavand
Australasia	Mount Giluwe
Europe	Mount Elbrus
North America	Pico de Orizaba
South America	Ojos del Salado

The Cultural Definition

Adam Helman points out that the first of the lists below follows the traditional Kosciuszko definition. He next overlays that first list with a political angle. My lists do the same. The distinction then becomes that between Australia and Australasia.

List V-1.

Cultural Continent	Volcanic Seven Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Damavand
Australia	Brumlow Top
Europe	Mount Elbrus
North America	Pico de Orizaba
South America	Ojos del Salado

List V-B.

Cultural continent with political overlay	Volcanic Seven Summits
Africa	Kilimanjaro
Antarctica	Mount Sidley
Asia	Damavand
Australasia	Mount Giluwe
Europe	Mount Elbrus
North America	Pico de Orizaba
South America	Ojos del Salado

Conclusion

Therefore the eleven volcanoes that you have to climb in order to complete all of the lists are:

Ojos del Salado
Kilimanjaro
Pico de Orizaba
Mount Sidley
Mount Elbrus
Damavand
Mount Giluwe
Mauna Kea
Mount Etna
Mawson Peak
Brumlow Top

The first five appear in all of the lists, so there is no doubting their status. Mauna Kea, Mount Etna and Mawson Peak only make fleeting appearances. The others appear and disappear depending on your view as to what constitutes the continent.

So there you are. The Volcanic Seven Summits: define your continents.

Who will be the first to climb all of them?

For more on the Volcanic Seven Summits, please click this link.

Another Volcanic Seven Summits Completer!

13th December 2018 by James Stone Leave a Comment

I am able to report on another person who has completed the Volcanic Seven Summits. That person is Ted Fairhurst from Canada.

Regular readers of my blog will recall that I mentioned in February that Ted was having difficulties with the weather on Ojos del Salado. Ultimately the weather defeated him at that time.

But Ted has been back to Chile and he managed to reach the top of Ojos on 9^th December 2018. In so doing, Ted has become the oldest person to complete the Volcanic Seven Summits and also the oldest person to complete the Volcanic Seven Summits/Seven Summits combination at the age of 71. Yes 71! He is also the second Canadian to complete the Volcanic Seven Summits after Paul Nicholson.

Ted Fairhurst on Ojos del Salado (c) Ted Fairhurst (used with permission)

Here is a short video he took at the summit.

Posted by Theodore Fairhurst on Tuesday, 11 December 2018

Ted’s original hope was to climb all seven of the volcanoes whilst he was 70. He started out by climbing Elbrus for a second time (it is also one of the Seven Summits) on 2^nd June 2017. So he has actually climbed all seven volcanoes in around 18 months.

So I have updated the list of completers and this is set out below.

We can anticipate at least two more completers in January when ALE run their trip to Mount Sidley. I will post another blog or two about this trip later in the month.

[Note that this list has since been updated here]

Climber, nationality and age at completion	Date of final summit	Final summit	Date of first summit
Mario Trimeri (Italy) (58)	24^th January 2011	Mount Sidley	23^rd August 2005
Crina Popescu (Romania) (16)	24^th January 2011	Mount Sidley	23^rd July 2008
Vyechaslav Adrov (Russia) (50)	18^th January 2013	Mount Sidley	8^th January 2010
Aleks Abramov (Russia) (47)	13^th September 2013	Mount Giluwe	3^rd May 1991
Olga Rumyantseva (Russia) (36)	9^th December 2013	Ojos del Salado	14^th August 1994
Vitaliy Simonovic (Russia) (42)	19^th December 2013	Ojos del Salado	26^th February 2012
François Bernard (Fr) (49)	17^th January 2014	Mount Sidley	Not known
Sophie Cairns (UK) (32)	10^th June 2014	Elbrus	28^th December 2013
Paul Nicholson (Canada) (50)	5^th December 2014	Ojos del Salado	7^th August 2005
Liana Chabdarova (Russia) (28)	12^th January 2015	Ojos del Salado	29^th August 2013
Andrey Filkov (Russia) (49)	16^th September 2015	Damavand	2^nd May 2007
James Stone (UK) (59)	14^th January 2017	Mount Sidley	23^rd February 2014
Daniel Bull (Australia) (36)	27^thApril 2017	Ojos del Salado	6^thMarch 2006
Katie Sarah (Australia) (49)	14^th January 2018	Mount Sidley	3^rd September 2010
David Hamilton (UK) (56)	10^th February 2018	Ojos del Salado	April 1992
Ted Fairhurst (Canada) (71)	9^th December 2018	Ojos del Salado	25^th January 2012

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

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

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

High altitude kayaking in the Andes

9th July 2018 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Ojos del Salado is the highest point on this planet that I have ever reached. And it will probably remain that way.

It also has the distinction of holding other “high” type records. For example:

It is the highest volcano in the world (and therefore it is the highest of the volcanic seven summits).
It is (arguably) the highest active volcano in the world. The most recent known eruption was about 1,300 years ago, with a large margin of uncertainty. However, there is also some evidence for a minor ash emission in 1993 and there are fumaroles high on the mountain.
It stands in the highest desert in the world – the Atacama – probably. Its average elevation in the Altiplano is higher than the Tibetan desert.
It is the highest mountain in Chile.
It holds the world’s highest lake. In fact is holds a number of the world’s highest lakes.
It has suffered the ignominy of having been the subject of attempts to attain the highest altitude record for a land vehicle. Ojos del Salado is 6893m high. A Suzuki Samurai 4WD has been to 6688m, a Mercedes truck has been to 6675m and a motorbike has been ridden to 6472m

Oh and it lies in the longest (above water) mountain chain in the world.

In March 2018 another “highest” record was set. This time it was the highest kayak ever at 5707m. This achievement was by Australian, Dan Bull, who was on my Sidley expedition.

The previous highest kayak is thought to have been one down parts of the Dudh Kosi river in 1976. This river is fed by the Khumbu icefall at the foot of Mount Everest in Nepal. The team there started at around 5500m with ten to 15 fibreglass boats. Only two of the boats made it to the end.

Dan’s record was achieved over a 2.5km route on one of the lakes nestled on the flanks of the volcano. It was not even the highest lake. The ice was too thick on that one.

Even so Dan had to break ice as he paddled to clear a way. Once done he was able to paddle the whole 2.5 km. Here are some pics and a video.

Mad! And I understand that he has other plans for a different record on this mountain.

All photos copyright Dan Bull, used with permission

Videos taken on Ojos del Salado

10th April 2015 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Here are three videos, all taken by Derek on the ascent of Ojos del Salado. The latter two show my slow, stumbling arrival at the summit. Boy was I relieved to get there!

The first shows the extreme aridity of the area where were climbing. That said a glimpse of Laguna Verde can be seen in the distance from around the 30sec point in that video. Laguna Verde was where we waited out most of the time for the weather window to make this climb.

We ended up being extremely lucky with the weather on the day of our climb. The air was almost still if a little bracing at -10C on the summit but the solar radiation made it feel a bit warmer.

I doubt that I will ever reach a higher point on the Earth’s surface now, so these videos bring back happy memories though do not quite expunge the hardships endured in achieving the summit. Nor should they – a reminder that things you want to achieve should never be made too easy!

Thanks to Derek for the videos.