For most of my later ascents I did no further training because the experience gained on Mount Everest and the earlier ascents was sufficient to enable me to make my later climbs, and I gained more experience with each later climb.

The exception was Carstenz. I did a refresher rock climbing course two months before I departed for Carstenz Pyramid. I had been told the rock on Carstenz was of difficulty grade 5.7 on the American grading system. In 1980 I had climbed Devil's Tower and I had not done any training prior to that climb.

I built up my upper body strength before the course by climbing up and down a 15-foot rope using only my hands. I continued doing so after the course to stay in shape for Carstenz.

For each of the Seven Summits I did both running and cycling to maintain my fitness. I was a keen triathlete, and the running and cycling were both good ways to build up the legs and general fitness. Running and cycling each work the leg muscles in a different manner, and doing both disciplines is good preparation for climbing, the only better training being climbing itself.

It is vital to remember that physical fitness offers absolutely no protection against altitude sickness, and physical fitness will not enable one to acclimatize more rapidly. In fact, on peaks like Kilimanjaro where one only has several days to acclimatise, an unfit person may occasionally outperform a fitter person, although this is not always the case. However, this does not mean that physical fitness should be neglected. A fit, acclimatized person will always outperform an unfit acclimatized person.

Physical fitness at any given altitude is an asset when and only when one is acclimatized enough to that given altitude to be able to increase one's rate of work without getting any symptoms of altitude sickness.

My preparation for Mount McKinley included weight training--because there are no Sherpas on Mount McKinley. One is carrying a heavy pack in addition to hauling a fairly heavy sled. In addition, one often has to spend two hours--and occasionally more than that--cutting snow blocks to build walls around the tents to protect them from the wind. Strength training is advisable for Mount McKinley. On Mount Everest one certainly needs to be fit, but one does not need to do strength training.

QUESTION: WHICH OF THE SEVEN SUMMITS WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT?

Mount Everest was the most difficult of the Seven Summits, mainly because of its extreme altitude.

Mount McKinley was the second-most difficult of the Seven Summits. Because of the heavy carries we had to do and because of the time spent building walls, in some ways it was a more difficult climb that Mount Everest. In addition, because the earth's atmosphere is thinner at the poles than at the equator, the air pressure on the summit of Mount McKinley is approximately the same as the air pressure on the summit of Aconcagua in South America, despite the fact that the latter peak is 2,500 feet higher than Mount McKinley. However, doing very strenuous work at very high altitude is still not as tough as climbing in the death zone on Mount Everest.

Owing to climatic conditions, most Alaskan glaciers are riddled with crevasses. Many of these crevasses are concealed by snow lids and snow bridges, and climatic conditions usually cause the snow lids to be very weak--making Alaskan glaciers very treacherous indeed. All climbers attempting Mount McKinley should be proficient in crevasse rescue techniques. Because of all of the above factors, of the Seven Summits, Mount McKinley is the most comprehensive test of a climbers ability.

Mount Kosciuszko is a non-technical day hike and its summit is at the same altitude as Mexico city. It is by far the easiest of the Seven Summits, and it is the weak sister in the Seven.

If one considers Carstenz and not Kosciuszko as the seventh Summit, then Kilimanjaro is the easiest of the Seven Summits, being a non-technical climb, although its 19,340-foot altitude, coupled with the fact that one only has four to six days to summit--and hence minimal time to acclimatize--can often cause climbers to abort the ascent. People have died of altitude sickness on Kilimanjaro, and the peak should never be taken lightly.

Elbrus is almost as high as Kilimanjaro, and it is a snow climb of moderate difficulty, somewhat more difficult than Kilimanjaro.

	MCKINLEY

The remaining three peaks--Carstenz Pyramid, Aconcagua, and Vinson Massif--are all more difficult than Elbrus, but easier than Mount McKinley. Carstenz is a rock climb, Aconcagua is a high-altitude climb, usually of low technical difficulty, and Vinson Massif is a fairly difficult ice climb in the extreme environment of Antarctica. Vinson Massif can be described as a slightly easier version of McKinley. Aconcagua is usually snow-free in the late summer because of the almost zero snow fall in summer and because of the frequent gale-force winds which keep the mountain bare of snow.

Aconcagua is definitely not a mountain to underestimate. It is the world's highest mountain outside of Asia, and the lack of technical difficulties can allow ignorant and arrogant climbers to reach its upper slopes without them taking sufficient time to acclimatize. At times the jet stream can descend onto the upper slopes of the mountain, causing the notorious Vienta Blanca, or "white winds." Wind speeds near the summit of Aconcagua have been known to rival those recorded on Mount Washington, site of the world's highest recorded wind speed. Many climbers have died on Aconcagua as a result of either altitude, bad weather, or both.

In regards to rating the overall difficulty of these three peaks, this will depend very much on the strengths and the weaknesses of the climber. Carstenz could either be the easiest or hardest depending on whether that climber is a strong or weak rock climber. The same could be said for Vinson Massif, depending on that climber's abilities on ice. And the same could be said for Aconcagua depending on that climber's ability to cope with altitude. For myself, I found Vinson Massif the hardest of these three peaks and Carstenz Pyramid the easiest of them.

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