The highest mountains on six continents

North America - Mount McKinley, 6194 meters

This is the highest mountain in North America, biceps, named in honor of the 25th President of the United States. Located in Alaska.

Indigenous people call this peak "Denali" which means "great", and during the Russian colonization of Alaska was simply called - Big Mountain.

Mount McKinley, the view from Denali National Park:

The first ascent of the main summit of McKinley took place on June 7, 1913. On the slopes of the mountain are five major glaciers.

South America - Mount Aconcagua, 6962 meters

This is the highest point of the Americas, South America, and western and southern hemispheres. Belong to the longest mountain chains of the world - the Andes.

The mountain is in Argentina and in Quechua means "Stone Guard". "Aconcagua" - is the largest dormant volcano on the planet.

In climbing Aconcagua is technically an easy mountain to climb if the north face.

The first recorded ascent of the mountain was in 1897.

Europe - Mount Elbrus, 5642 m

This stratovolcano in the Caucasus is Russia's highest mountain. Given that the border between Europe and Asia is mixed, often referred to as Mount Elbrus the highest European mountain top.

Elbrus - a two-headed volcano with a saddle. Western summit has an elevation of 5642 meters, East - 5621 m The last eruption dates back to BC in '50 ...

At the time of the eruption of Mount Elbrus, probably resembled the eruption of Vesuvius modern, but differed more strongly. From the crater of the volcano eruption in the early rising for many kilometers up powerful clouds of vapor and gas, saturated with black ashes, covering the whole sky, turning day into night. The earth was shaking from the powerful earthquake.

Today, the two peaks of Elbrus are covered with snow and ice. On the slopes of Mount Elbrus in different directions 23 of the glacier. The average speed of the glaciers is about 0.5 meters per day.

The first successful ascent of one of the peaks of Elbrus was committed in 1829. The average annual number of deaths during the ascent of Elbrus is 15-30 people.

Asia - Mount Everest, 8848 meters

Everest (Qomolangma) - is the pinnacle of the world! The first adjustment eightthousander and the highest mountain on Earth.

Mountain is located in the Himalayan mountain range in the Mahalangur-Himal, and the South summit (8760 m) lies on the border of Nepal and the North (main) summit (8848 m) is located in China.

Everest has the form of a three-sided pyramid. At the top of Qomolangma are the strongest winds blowing at a speed of 200 km / h, and the air temperature at night drops to -60 Celsius.

The first ascent of Everest took place in 1953. C after the first ascent to the summit until 2011 on the slopes of Everest, killing more than 200 people. Now climb to the summit takes about 2 months - with acclimatization and installation of the camps.

View from space:

Climbing Mount Everest - not only extremely dangerous but also expensive: the cost of climbing in the specialized groups of up to 65,000 U.S. dollars, and the mere permission to climb, issued by the Government of Nepal, it is worth 10 thousand dollars

Australia and Oceania - Punchak Mount Jaya, 4884 m

The highest peak in Australia and Oceania, which is located on the island of New Guinea. It is located on the Australian plate and is the highest mountain in the world, located on the island.

Hill was opened in 1623 by Dutch explorer Jan Carstens, who saw in the distance at the top of the glacier.Therefore it is sometimes called the Pyramid Mountain Carstens.

The first ascent of Punchak-Dzhayu occurred only in 1962. The name of the mountain with the Indonesian language translates roughly as "Victory Peak".

Antarctica - An array Vindson, 4892 m

This is the highest mountain in Antarctica. On the existence of mountain became known only in 1957.Because the mountains were discovered by American aircraft, then they were called Vinson Massif, in honor of the famous American politician Carl Vinson.

View of the Vinson Massif from space:

Africa - Mount Kilimanjaro, 5895 m

This is the highest point in Africa, a huge dormant volcano, which has two well-defined peaks in the north-eastern Tanzania. In the mountains there was no documented eruptions, but local legends say about the volcanic activity of 150-200 years ago.

Higher - Kibo peak, nearly regular cone, which has a strong glaciation.

The name comes from the Swahili language and supposedly means "mountain that glitters."

Snow caps on top of a mountain 11,000 years since the last Ice Age, thaws quickly. Over the past 100 years, the amount of snow and ice has decreased by more than 80%. It is believed that this is not due to changes in temperature and decrease in the number of snowfalls.

The highest peak in Africa was first conquered by the German explorer, Hans Meyer in 1889.