Climber Becomes First To Climb "Second Seven Summits"

Earlier this week, Italian mountaineer Hans Kammerlander became the first person to climb the "Second Seven Summits," which are the mountains that are the second highest on each of the seven continents. Kammerlander complete his quest in Antarctica, where he reached the top of the 4851 meter (15,916 ft) Mt. Tyree. According to the Adventure Journal, Hans is just the eighth person to nab that summit in the past 15 years.

Kammerlander climbed his first "second-seven" back in 2001, when he successfully topped out on K2, the second tallest mountain in Asia, and the world for that matter. At the time, he wasn't even considering the other second-tallest peaks, but in 2009 he summited Ojos del Salado, a 6893 meter (22,614 ft) mountain in South America. With that one under his belt, Hans began to form the idea of climbing the remaining "second-seven" summits.

With his new goal clearly defined, the Italian went on to climb Mt. Kenya (5199m/17,057ft) in Africa, Mt. Logan (5959m/19,550ft) in North America, and Dychtau (5204m/17,073ft) in Europe, as well a Oceania's Puncak Trikora (4730m/15,518ft) in Indonesia. That left Mt. Tyree has the lone obstacle to completing the Second Seven Summits, and now that is finished as well.

Congrats to Hans on a job well done. This wasn't exactly a highly publicized expedition and he deserves a tip of the hat for the accomplishment.