First to the Top Seven Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard

Based on a challenge by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, a Swiss physicist and alpine traveller, the first successful Mont Blanc climb also marks the beginning of modern mountain climbing. In fact, one year before the first successful climb, de Saussure made a promising attempt of his own but had to abandon the expedition. Balmat and Paccard made it to the summit in 1786.

Although the highest mountain that is undisputedly in Europe, Mont Blanc is not counted as part of the Seven Summits in any version of the list. However, due to its moderate difficulty and relative fame among mountaineers, it is almost inevitably a part of any Seven Summit conqueror's climbing career.

Answer: Matthias Zurbriggen

Edward FitzGerald actually never reached the summit on the expedition he led. This honor fell first to his Swiss guide, Matthias Zurbriggen, on January 14, 1897, followed by Stuart Vines and Nicolas Lanti a few days later. Aconcagua is a relatively easy climb from a mountaineering perspective, but still tricky due to the high altitude and low oxygen supply.

A long acclimatization period is necessary for anyone wishing to attempt it.

Answer: Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller

The German geologist Hans Mayer was rather persistent in his attempts to make the Kibo ascent, already having planned expeditions in 1887 (when he turned around due to inadequate equipment) and in 1888 (aborted due to civil war). On his third attempt in 1889, he joined forces with Ludwig Purtscheller, a famous Austrian climber and succeeded on October 6 of that year.

Their expedition would remain the only one to reach the summit for the next twenty years.

Answer: Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens

Mount McKinley, Alaska, is the highest peak of North America. The first European to see it was likely George Vancouver in 1794 although he did not recognize the mountain to be as high as it actually is. The first person to identify it as North America's highest elevation was William Dickey in 1897, almost correctly estimating its 6196 meters.

The first attempt to climb this mountain was undertaken in 1903 by James Wickersham. He chose a seemingly easy but treacherous route and had to turn back. After a false 1906 claim by Frederick Cook, the first team to actually make the ascent was led by Stuck and Karstens, but the honor of being the first man on top fell to Alaska native Walter Harper.

Answer: 1874

The reason I did not ask for the names of the first climbers in this question is simple - the expedition which managed this climb involved five mountaineers who share in the title of first to the summit without any of them claiming sole ownership. The formal expedition leader was Briton Florence Crauford Grove. Today, Elbrus climbs are, while not particularly easy, possible to make for trained hobbyists who can take a cable car to the 3800 meter level and undertake a one-day expedition to the 5642 meter summit.

Answer: Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler

Reinhold Messner is an Italian mountaineer who holds numerous records, including becoming the first person to scale all fourteen of the world's highest peaks and did so without supplemental oxygen. Together with his partner Peter Habeler, he reached the summit on 8 May 1978. He repeated the climb two years later, in August 1980 as a solo climber, becoming the first person to achieve this particular feat as well.

All other options in this question are mountaineers who perished during an attempt on Mount Everest, still one of the most dangerous places on Earth to reach.

Answer: Pawel Edmund Strzelecki

If you ever want to feel like completing one seventh of a feat normal people can only dream of doing, here is your chance. Mount Kosciuszko is a mere 2,228 meters high and you can get rather close to the summit by driving up Charlotte Pass. From the pass, the hike (not even climb) to the top is a mere 5 miles (8 kilometers) of no particular difficulty that anyone with a reasonable level of fitness can easily manage. Strezelecki's first documented ascent of this peak in 1840 is just a footnote on his pioneering exploration of the Australian Alps and many other areas of the fifth continent.

Answer: The peak scaled by the 1936 expedition was the highest then but no longer is.

Anton Colijn, Jean Jacques Dozy and Frits Wissel were the three men who scaled the Ngga Pulu summit on Puncak Jaya in 1936. At this time, this summit was covered in heavy, hard snow and standing on it meant that one was actually at a higher altitude than the Carstensz Pyramid, the highest point of the actual rock formation which their expedition failed to reach.

In the following decades, much of the glacier melted and Carstensz became the highest point, which was then first scaled in 1962 by an expedition led by Heinrich Harrer.

Answer: Nicholas Clinch

Due to the remote location of this peak in Western Antarctica at 78° South, the difficulties faced by Mr. Clinch's expedition were much less in the climb itself but rather in getting there in the first place. The expedition was a merger of two initially separate plans and received funding and support from several sources including the U.S. Navy. All ten expedition members were Americans, representing multiple fields of study. The original initiators of the two plans, Charles Hollister and Peter Schoening, also formed part of the team. All ten members actually reached the summit, a rarity in modern mountaineering expeditions.

All three wrong answers were notable climbers of K2, the second highest mountain in the world.

Answer: Jordan Romero

Born July 12, 1996, Jordan Romero is a teenage environmental activist who had derived the inspiration to try and scale the Seven Summits from a painting at his school. He was already an accomplished climber, often accompanying his father Paul on tours.

His Seven Summits tour began in April 2006, at not even 10 years, with a successful conquest of the Kibo. He completed the Everest climb in May 2010 and will likely remain the youngest person ever to manage this feat as none of the adjacent countries still allows mountaineers under 16 to attempt this feat. Romero completed his goal on December 24, 2011 by scaling the Vinson Massif.