7 Summits — Jo Bradshaw

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The 7 summits consists of the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents. There are a couple of variations depending on whether you go for the Australian peak Mt Kosciuszko, or the Oceania peak Carstensz Pyramid in West Papua, Indonesia.

The data
The 7 summits were first completed by Richard ‘Dick’ Bass in 1985, his version being with Kosciuszko on the Australian continent whilst Reinhold Messner completed the 7 summits with Carstensz Pyramid instead, in 1986, covering the whole of Oceania. Since Bass first completed the 7, less than 500 mountaineers from across the globe have followed in his or Messner’s footsteps.

The first woman to complete the 7 summits was Japanese mountaineer, Junko Tabei in 1992. Junko was also the first woman to reach the summit of Everest in 1975.

The first Brit to complete the 7 was Sir David Hempleman-Adams in 1995 and the first British woman was Rebecca Stephens MBE who completed the 7 in 1994, a year after reaching the summit of Everest, again a British female first.

And why am I climbing the 7 summits? Good question!! Here is the very short(ish) version…..

I first climbed Kilimanjaro (#1) for work in 2008 and Aconcagua (#2) for fun in 2011.

A few 6000m peaks and my first 8000er later, Everest became a thing in 2015 with the support of a sponsor, and my association with Place2Be was born.

After our climb was abruptly halted by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, I headed to Russia to climb Elbrus (#3).

Everest 2016 (#4) was fortunately a success, and my sponsor asked me what was next. With 4 of the 7 climbed, it seemed logical to attempt the remaining 3.

Then came Denali (#5) in 2017.

Carstensz Pyramid was all set to happen in January 2018 until my sponsor sadly pulled out. A lot of expedition fundraising later and Carstensz Pyramid was all set for September 2019. Our expedition was cancelled 24hrs before departure due to civil unrest in West Papua.

Then came Vinson (#6) at the end of 2019.

7 years later and nearly £7,000 down, I have set up a new expedition fundraising campaign to help me to finally complete the 7 summits.

Since Everest kicked off I have raised over £45,000 for Place2Be. To support my fundraising efforts for this incredible charity, please click on this link.