HOW MUCH MONEY AND TIME YOU WILL NEED TO CLIMB ALL 7 SUMMITS

Photo: Kalle Kortelainen for Unsplash

If you ask me whether an ordinary person within the guided tour with no experience can climb the Everest, I will tell you yes. But this does not mean that I encourage everyone to give up their business and run to climb Mount Everest. Naturally, the more experience you have - the better.  But if you don’t - no worries. You’ll have enough time to fully get it, because not all mountains from the 7 Summits list as difficult as Mount Everest. You can start from the easiest one and gradually increase the level of difficulty then.

By this way, we’re ready to start planning our schedule. What mountains to start from? Not from the Everest, for sure. You can follow the rule "7 Summits easiest to hardest", but in general, this rule can not always be aligned with schedule of your vacations, as well as with climbing seasons. My advice is to start with the closest and easiest mountain to your location. For instance, if you live in North or South America, you may find it easier to start with the Aconcagua rather than Mount Kilimanjaro. I also do not recommend starting with Mount Denali because this climbing may definitely discourage you from the desire to finish your 7 Summits adventure. Leave the Denali for the end. You better start thinking about it after climbing the first half of your Seven Summits list.

From my own perspective, Mount Kilimanjaro is the perfect mountain to start from. You do not require investments in expensive climbing equipment, you do not require such climbing skills as walking on crampons or abseiling. Ascent to Kilimanjaro will give your body an excellent understanding of what a lack of oxygen is and how to deal with a high-altitude sickness.

KILIMANJARO, PERFECT MOUNTAIN TO START!
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Then you can try to climb Mount Aconcagua. This mountain will make you practice the application of the acquired skills in terms of dealing with high-altitude sickness, but not as part of a 6-day climb, but as part of a full-scale 3-week expedition. In addition, you will have the chance to acquire experience of walking on crampons.

Mount Elbrus is a good continuation of your 7 Summits adventure. It is lower than Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Aconcagua but advanced climbing skills will be required. 

Advanced climbers leave Kosciusko for the last part of the 7 Summits schedule as you can manage it by riding a bike or even with a two-years old child between your hands. To be frankly, it is too easy to pay attention to, at least before you climb the Everest (or at least the Denali).

We left a part the Denali, the Vinson Massif and the Everest. I would start from the Denali just because it fits easiest your schedule in addition to the fact this climb will give you the opportunity to get ready to Antarctica and Himalaya cold weathers. After all, after climbing the Denali, you will be ready for the Everest a well as for the Vinson Massif. Normally, after climbing the Everest, people simply are out of excuses not to spend enormous amount of money to climb in Antarctica.

I have pledged to implement the program of 7 Summits from 3 to 5 years. On average, people have time to climb no more than one or two mountains per year. In addition, climbing seasons of the mountains like the Denali and the Everest are identical, which means that you will not be able to go in the same year. Unless you just do not play these games when getting acclimatized on Mount Everest, you will immediately fly to climb Mount Denali. By the way, this is how speed records are established. The current is less than a year. In addition, long expedition fit harder into your schedule. It is much easier to plan a 6-day climb to Kilimanjaro than a two-month climb to Mount Everest.

Pholto: Anna Tremewan for Unsplash

Now let's talk about the main thing: the price. Key factors influencing the cost are air tickets, climbing equipment and clothes, as well as the cost of guided tours..

On the 7 Summits equipment you will need about $9 000 USD. It makes no sense to try reducing it, because your life and health depend on it. As a rule, all camping equipment is provided by a tour operator. All positions exceeding $100 USD, are divided into relevant categories of our 7 Summits hardware list (price is approximate):

Climbing equipment:

• Ice-axe - $100 USD
• Crampons - $250 USD
• Helmet - $150 USD
• Harness - $200 USD
• Carabiners - $200 USD
• Ascender and descender - $100 USD
• Trekking poles - $150 USD

Footwear:

• Mountaineering boots (2 pairs) - $1 200 USD
• Approaching shoes - $200 USD
• Tons of socks - $200 USD

Technical Clothing:

• Tons of underwear - $500 USD
• Fleece jacket - $400 USD
• Technical Shell - $500 USD
• Technical Pant Shell - $500 USD
• Down jacket (2 items) - $1 000 USD
• Down suit - $800 USD

Headwear:

• Glacier glasses - $100 USD
• Hats and beanies - $100 USD

Personal Equipment:

• Backpack (2 items) - $500 USD
• Travel bag (2 items) - $300 USD
• Sleeping bag (2 items) - up to $1 000 USD

Handwear:

• Mittens and gloves (a few pairs) - up to $500 USD

All the other little things, such as sneakers, headlamps, thermoses and etc. can cost you about $500 USD. If you're curious, you can look at a sample gear list for climbing Mount Elbrus and it will provide you almost a complete understanding of the cost.

MT. ELBRUS – YOUR FIRST STEP TO 7 SUMMITS!
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You will need 6 intercontinental flights, each of which will cost about $1 500 USD. So you will have to spend $9 000 USD on the tickets.

Assuming that you always choose the cheapest offer of the market, you will need at least another $100 000 USD to cover the guided tours cost. But as usual, people get familiar to a particular provider, and rarely go with another one. Below I will give the lowest current rates and the duration of the guided tours, which I found among the 6 key tour operators. For your convenience, I classified all the 7 Summits in order of difficulty:

Mountain Name	Popular Route	Elevation	Climbing Seasons	Average cost of a guided tour	Duration of Climb	Activity Level
Kilimanjaro	Marangu Gate	5 895 m / 19 341 ft	All year round	$3 000 USD	6 Days	Moderate/ Challenging
Aconcagua	Normal Route	6 962 m / 22 831 ft	15 Nov - 1 Mar	$3 500 USD	17 Days	Challenging
Elbrus	South Normal Route	5 642 m / 18 511 ft	1 Jun - 30 Sep	$800 USD	7 Days	Challenging
Denali	West Buttress	6 195 m / 20 325 ft	15 Apr - 31 Jul	$8 000 USD	3 Weeks	Tough/ Extreme
Everest	via South Col	8 848 m / 29 029 ft	1 Apr - 15 Jun; 1 Sep - 31 Oct	$42 000 USD	2 Months	Extreme
Vinson Massif	Normal Route	4 897 m / 16 066 ft	15 Nov - 15 Feb	$32 000 USD	17 Days	Challenging/ Tough
Kosciusko	via Thredbo	2 228 m / 7 310 ft	01 Nov - 30 Apr	$0 USD	1 Day	Easy/ Moderate

By this way, the sum of all the numbers will be at least $118 000 USD and 3 years, from which 22 weeks will be spent directly in the mountains (154 days, 1/7 of the time). This is the ideal option, but you need to be prepared for the fact that not every mountain can be climbed at the first try. Respectively, time and cost will increase proportionately. On average, I would advise you to consider 5 years and about $150 000 USD on the implementation of the program.

By the way, your adventure does not end after the completion of the program the 7 Summits. You can extend it to start collecting other mountains from the list of the 7 Volcanoes, the Second 7 Summits, the 7 Second Volcanoes and so on. Keep in mind that there are plenty of other popular mountains and you can see a list of them in such articles as "Top 10 Most Guided Mountains in the World and Why", "Top 5 Most Expencive Summit Trips in the World", or "Classification of Guided Climbs".

And by the way, you can always take a shortcut and go, instead of the 7 Summits only to 5 of them, leaving Mount Everest and Vinson Massif to those who can afford to pay for them for $40 000 USD for each.

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By the way, thanks to the project www.mountainplanet.com these numbers can be reduced, because the platform allows you to negotiate directly with a guide and exclude tour-operator margins from your expenses. The platform also gives you the advantage to rent equipment from fellow climbers for affordable price.