Mountaineering (or mountain climbing) is the act of climbing mountains. The sport aims at reaching the highest point of mountains, preferably high, difficult to climb or (mostly historically) yet unclimbed ones. The techniques differ depending on whether the terrain is rock, snow or ice, and in many cases the mountaineer has to face all of them in difficult (cold and windy) conditions at high altitudes after a long wilderness hike. Except in the case of the easiest mountains, mountaineering requires experience, athletic ability, good equipment and technical knowledge. Safety can seldom be guaranteed.
As mountaineering requires training and experience for all but the easiest cases – and determining whether the conditions allow a safe tour requires experience in itself – this article will not try to teach the needed skills. Instead it touches on some of the issues, tries to explain what mountaineering is about, and lists some destination of interest for mountaineers or those fascinated by the topic.
Understand
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The simplest climbs involve just hiking, cycling or cross country skiing through some hills. Even these can be quite rewarding, giving fine views and perhaps opportunities for camping or wildlife photography.
There are relatively easy mountains, such as Mount Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which can be climbed by nearly anyone in good enough physical condition. These treks, though strenuous, do not require specialised skills or equipment beyond what one needs for general outdoors recreation.
Others are more difficult so they require planning, guides, skills and equipment. Scrambling requires hands-on travel across steep or loose off-trail terrain. Ice and snow require equipment for traction and stopping falls. Technical climbs require ropes to travel safely, maybe for rock climbing up a cliff or navigating a glacier field.
On some climbs, deaths are common – Mount Everest has a death rate of about 1% of those attempting to reach the peak.
Prepare
[edit]Every mountain is different. An expedition usually starts with the approach, which could be a combination of hiking, skiing and scrambling. As you get closer to the summit, you could face actual climbing on rock or ice.
Fitness
[edit]The conditioning needed for mountaineering builds on what is needed to comfortably hike in increasingly steep and uneven terrain. Mountains tend to be all-day or multi-day affairs, requiring you to ascend 1,000 m (3,300 ft) meters or more at high altitudes while carrying backpacks after a poor sleep. You don't want to find yourself exhausted on the ascent, because changing conditions could force you to move somewhere else in a hurry, and keep a clear head through a stressful situation.
The best way to train is to do lots of hikes with elevation gain, with a mix of long-and-slow endurance hikes and short-and-intense workout hikes. If you don't have access to good trails near home, cross-country skiing, running and other "cardio" exercise are much better than nothing.
Gear
[edit]In addition to gear commonly used for hiking and wilderness backpacking, mountaineers may also carry the following for more treacherous terrain:
- Ropes protect climbers from falls. Climbers tie the rope into their harness, and use systems of knots, carabiners, webbing and axes to attach themselves to protection, which can break a fall. These systems vary based on the problem faced - rock climbing, glacier traversal, via ferrata, etc. Roped travel typically requires a team to be effective - one person in front or actively climbing, and one or more people to manage slack or catch a fall.
- Ice axes are used on snow and ice to provide extra balance and traction, break falls and build snow anchors. If you slip on an ice field and don't have a way to stop yourself before you pick up speed, you're in a bad situation.
- Crampons are sets of spikes that attach to boots to provide traction on ice.
- Mountaineering boots provide a rigid sole to smooth over rocky ground and to kick steps in ice, easy crampon attachments and insulation from the cold.
- Helmets keep small rocks, slips on ice and pokey equipment from knocking you out.
All of the above gear requires practice to use safely. Oftentimes, guided trips on popular routes will spend time teaching and practicing with the needed equipment.
Planning a route
[edit]There are few first ascents remaining; most mountains have been climbed before. Many mountains have detailed route information available, complete with GPX tracks and recommended gear lists. Seek the advice of others who have climbed the route before, and consider inviting one into your party.
Conditions along a route change dramatically over the course of a year. Most routes have a favored season, when conditions are best for a successful ascent - maybe the weather is best in a certain month, or the route needs a certain level of snow to be passable. Conditions also change from year to year - a winter of unusually heavy snow may mean the avalanche risk persists far later into the climbing season than usual, or a receding glacier that was easy to cross a few years ago is now bare rock. Find trip reports from people who have recently climbed your objective. Popular climbing regions tend to have online communities that frequently share this kind of information. It may require getting access to a private social media group.
Weather can be the difference between a chill hike and a survival story. Check as many forecasts as you can find, ensure you have a good weather window, and prepare for the full range of possible conditions. Be mentally prepared to turn around if conditions become more than you were expecting.
Destinations
[edit]- See also: Mountain ranges
Seven first summits
[edit]The Seven Summits are the tallest mountains on each continent. The summits are:
- 1 Mount Everest, Asia, 8,848 m
- 2 Aconcagua, South America, 6,961 m
- 3 Denali
, North America, 6,194 m - 4 Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa, 5,895 m
- 5 Elbrus , Europe, 5,642 m
- 6 Vinson, Antarctica, 4,892 m
Mainland Australia's tallest mountain, 7 Mount Kosciuszko 
(2,228 m), was on the original Seven Summits list. As this mountain is considered a rather trivial challenge (which can be done in a 6-km walk), 8 Puncak Jaya on New Guinea (4,884 m) is considered to represent Oceania. New Guinea lies on the Australian tectonic plate and is geologically considered part of the Australian continent.
9 Mont Blanc (4,810 m) is occasionally regarded as Europe's tallest mountain, as Elbrus is on different sides of the Europe-Asia border depending on definition. However, Mont Blanc is not on any of the Seven Summits lists. It is still a classic in mountaineering, and an alternative to Elbrus, often preferred due to the unstable political situation in the North Caucasus.
Seven second summits
[edit]Some mountaineers attempt to climb the second highest peak on each continent. While the peaks are at lower altitudes than the Seven Summits, some of them are more technically difficult, so some of the Second Summits are considered a greater mountaineering challenge than the Seven Summits.
- 1 K2, Asia, 8,611 m — considered to be more technically challenging to climb than Everest. Also experiences even worse weather, being nearly 8 degrees of latitude north of Everest.
- 2 Ojos del Salado , South America, 6,893 m — highest volcano of the Earth. It's slightly more technically difficult than Aconcagua, but is considered less physically demanding because its base camp is 700 m (2,300 ft) higher than that of Aconcagua and can be reached by four-wheel-drive vehicle.
- 3 Mount Logan , North America, 5,959 m — considered equal to or slightly greater in technical difficulty than Denali, but far more difficult to access, especially for climbers lacking the resources to charter a plane.
- 4 Dykh-Tau , Europe, 5,205 m — considerably more challenging than Elbrus.
- 5 Mount Kenya, Africa, 5,199 m — requires advanced rock climbing gear, while Kilimanjaro can be summited with no technical difficulty.
- 6 Mount Tyree , Antarctica, 4,852 m
Once again, there's some disagreement about the seventh mountain on the list. If you prefer a mountain in Australia, it's 7 Mount Townsend (2,209 m); otherwise, it's 8 Puncak Mandala (4,760 m) in Indonesia. While Puncak Mandala is easier technically than Puncak Jaya, it has a much more difficult approach route, which is arguably the biggest problem with mountaineering in New Guinea.
Those who consider Mont Blanc the tallest mountain in Europe would consider 9 Monte Rosa (4,634 m; Switzerland's tallest mountain) to be the second tallest.
Other high peaks
[edit]Almost any mountain can be a mountaineering objective. The following articles feature mountaineering-focused content:
- Himalayas of Asia
- Many of the treks in Nepal lead to base camps for the world's largest mountains, including Annapurna (8,091 m) and Manaslu (8,156 m).
- Europe
- Snowdon, United Kingdom
- Alps
- Dufourspitze/Punta Dufour/Monte Rosa, Switzerland (4,634 m)
- Matterhorn/Mont Cervin, Switzerland/Italy (4,478 m)
- The Scandinavian range (see also Hiking destinations in Norway)
- Jotunheimen (with Norway's highest peak, Galdhøpiggen: 2,469 m)
- Romsdal Alps (with Store Venjetind: 1,852 m)
- Kebnekaise (2,093 m), Sweden's tallest mountain
- North America
- United States
- Mount Rainier (4,390 m)
- Mount St. Helens (2,549 m)
- Mount Whitney (4,421 m)
- Sierra Madre, Mexico
- Pico de Orizaba (5,636 m)
- Popocatepetl (5,426 m)
- Iztaccihuatl (5,230 m)
- Nevado de Toluca (4,691 m)
- United States
- Oceania
- Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand
- Andes of South America
- Cayambe, Ecuador (5,790 m)
- Cerro Huascarán, Peru (6,768 m)
- Lanin, Argentina (3,747 m)
- Llullaillaco, Chile (6,739 m)
"Easy" high peaks
[edit]These high peaks do not require specialized skills. They can give you an alpine experience without committing to the training.
- Mount Fuji (3,776 m) in Japan
- Mount Kinabalu (4,095 m) in Malaysia
- Ojos del Salado (6,893 m) in Northern Chile; one of the Seven Second Summits.
- Pokalde (5,800 m) 12 km southwest of Mount Everest
There are some even easier peaks with cable cars, trains or roads going to the summit or almost all the way:
- Teide (3,715 m) in Spain
- Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m) in the French Alps
- Jungfraujoch (3,454 m) in Switzerland
- Pico Espejo (4,765 m) in Venezuela
- Tanggula Pass (5,072 m) in China
- Pikes Peak in the United States.
Sleep
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Base camp
[edit]The base camp is a convenient and safe location where one can stay while preparing for the climb, wait for good weather, and leave equipment and supplies not needed on the climb itself. The base camp can in many cases be reached by vehicles.
On popular routes there may be mountain cabins, safety huts and similar. These provide at least some shelter from the elements, sometimes also basic provisions and meals. Otherwise, a tent is often the primary place to sleep. It can be used where there are no huts, or when a hut cannot be reached because of foul weather or other circumstances.
Often trekkers will go as far as the base camp with no intent to actually attempt climbing the mountain. The Everest Base Camp Trek and the K2 base camp trek are two examples.
High camp
[edit]On long routes, you may need to leave the base camp for multiple days. You may also get stuck on the route and not be able to get back to camp right away.
When there is no good place to put up a tent, you can bivouac. This refers to a minimal camp shelter, often just a simple body-sized "bivvy" sack to protect from the elements and an inner sleeping bag for insulation.
Snow shelters are a reasonably comfortable option under some circumstances: you need a suitable thick snow cover where you are going to dig the cave and the place should not risk avalanches or similar threats. The main problems are moisture and the risk of suffocation in case ventilation fails. Natural caves in ice are fundamentally different, with their own set of risks.
Stay safe
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Mountain climbing is an inherently risky activity. It cannot be made entirely "safe". Really high or difficult mountains are quite dangerous; by the figures Wikipedia gives as of early 2025, 340 people had died on Everest and nearly 100 on K2. All of the 14 peaks over 8,000 m have had at least 50 deaths.
That said, there are ways to mitigate many of the risks, and it can be reasonably safe if your physical condition, skills and equipment are adequate for the mountain in question.
Falling is the most obvious risk. Ropes can mitigate some types of falls, but have their own set of safety concerns. Deciding when to rope up and when to move efficiently requires considerable judgment.
Alpine environments are subject to rockfall. Spontaneous releases can occur without warning, caused by changing temperatures, moving water and melting ice. Climbers typically start early in the morning or even late the night before, in hopes of getting back to solid ground before the hot part of the day. Climbers above you can also kick down rocks. Wear a helmet to protect from smaller rocks, and move quickly through scree to minimize (but not eliminate) the chance of getting hit by a 'microwave' or 'refrigerator'-sized boulder.
Mountain slopes are often exposed to high winds. The mountains themselves can create high winds down the slopes, as cold (and thus heavy) air high up the mountain rushes down to the valleys. The topography may also funnel winds into particular passages.
Mountaineers need to be familiar with a multitude of other risks that they frequently face:
- Altitude sickness can become dangerous for any travel above 3000-3500 m.
- Cold weather is a reality of high elevations. Lots of famous mountaineers are missing toes.
- Dehydration is exacerbated by lower air pressure, sustained exertion and the effort needed to obtain drinking water in alpine environments.
- Glaciers present unique hazards, most notoriously crevasses, that require a host of specialized skills and equipment to navigate.
- Snow hides terrain hazards, and leads to avalanches in mountainous topography.
- Sunburn is worse where the atmosphere is thin and there is little shade.
- Volcanoes have a whole set of geologic hazards, even if they're not likely to erupt on you.
A professional guide or a climber experienced with the route can help to identify and avoid some of the risks particular to a mountain.
Search and Rescue practices vary widely by country, as does billing for evacuations. Many travel insurance products explicitly exclude coverage for mountaineering. Carefully read through any "extreme sports" limitations in your policy. You may be able to purchase insurance through a regional alpine club.
Learn
[edit]You're a strong hiker, and want to learn the ropes of technical mountaineering?
The canonical textbook is Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, by Mountaineers Books, which covers nearly all the beginner and intermediate skills needed. However, you can't read your way up a mountain. Do not attempt to climb a technical route without mentored instruction in a controlled environment.
First, become competent at the basics of rock climbing - tying in, belaying, balance, etc. Rock climbing gyms can be found in most metro areas across North America and Europe, and are accessible to people of all skill levels. You don't need to be all that skilled at climbing technique; most mountaineering routes are graded lower than even the easiest gym routes. You do, however, need to be completely comfortable and efficient on a rope. Imagine doing the easiest route in the gym, but with loose holds, while wet and freezing, after a 10 hour hike, wearing 15 kg of gear and thick boots.
Build comfort in moving through snowy and icy environments. If you do any winter sports then you have a good base. You can also try some winter hikes to get familiar with snow traction and clothing strategies. For mountains with long approaches, you may also need to know how to camp on snow.
From there, you're ready to develop mountain-specific skills. Instruction is available through guide services, as well as some regional alpine clubs and mountaineering clubs. Guided trips up popular beginner-appropriate routes typically include a couple days with heavy instruction, which is often enough to reach the summit when supported by a team of guides. You may be asked to pass a rock climbing belay test as a prerequisite, and commit to fitness and conditioning requirements. Intensive courses of a week or longer can set you up to climb more self-sufficiently while following a competent rope lead.