How Much Does It Cost to Climb The 7 summits (from someone who has done it!)?

Alright, the painful question. Just How Much Does It Cost to Climb The 7 summits? I’m writing this awaiting my flight to Antartica, where I’ll attempt to climb Mount Vinson, which will be my 7th AND FINAL summit, all being well! So I know all too well how much does it cost to climb the 7 summits. A LOT!

I’ve climbed 6 of the 7, and I am writing this from Chile, en route to my 7th – Vinson in Antarctica, so I know quite well just how much it costs to climb the seven summits. And it’s a disgusting number! Get ready….

What are the 7 summits?

Let me break it down though, first we have to know what are the 7 summits. I wrote an in-depth article about that (including death rates, some costs, difficulty etc HERE). But the short answer is:

The 7 summits are the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents. There is one small issue though that some people claim 2 different mountains for Europe and Australasia. So, to be safe, I climb all of the 7 summits PLUS the 2 dubious ones. Making 9 summits in total. So what are they?

1. ASIA: Mount Everest, Nepal
2. AFRICA: Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
3. NORTH AMERICA: Denali, USA
4. SOUTH AMERICA: Aconcagua, Argentina
5. EUROPE: Mount Elbrus, Russia (with some people, wrongly, claiming Mont Blanc in France)
6. AUSTRALASIA/AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA: Punjack Jaya, also known as Carstensz Pyramid (with some people, wrongly, claiming Mount Kosciuszko in Australia). I blogged about what is Australia’s highest peak here too.
7. ANTARCTICA: Mount Vinson, also known as Vinson Massif

How much does it cost to climb 7 summits, mountain by mountain:

First, How much does it cost to climb Everest:

The cost to climb Mount Everest ranges from $40k to $100k, depending if you use a local nepali operator who are cheaper but have less robust safety records, or western operators who are pricier but safer. I went with the best operator in the business, Furtenbach Adventures, and they charge about 70,000EURO which is $77,000USD.

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Everest HERE (not finished writing my account yet though, sorry!).

How much does it cost to climb Kilimanjaro

I did it on a SUPER TIGHT budget of $1,000 10 years ago. The minimum now, for a pretty rough experience is more like $1750. A normal price is around $2500. You can spend up to $10,000 for luxury climbs though, where people bring up real toilets etc. Madness.

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Kilimanjaro HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Denali

I went through Jagged Globe, and they simply took my money and outsourced it to American Alpine Institute. If I had gone directly I would have had the same service for $2k less. I paid Jagged Globe $14,000. It’s $12k to go with AAI. It’s also about $12k to go with Furtenbach, I’d do that if I was to go again!

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Denali HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Aconcagua

Aconcagua is much cheaper. I was broke at the time, and I went with a Russian Operator, Elbrus Tours. I know the owner, lovely guy called Sergei, and I trust him. This is a basic expedition, but also really good value, so we paid just under $3000 plus the permit, so a around $3500. You can get A LOT more comfort with western operators for about $5k. That’s probably better to be honest. I failed my first attempt at Aconcagua, so that doubled the price for me obviously.

Also FYI, this climb is great value. Almost 3 weeks for this price is amazing.

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Aconcagua HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Mount Elbrus

Western operators are $2500-$3k. I went with Elbrus Tours and it was about $1500 or so for the mid package, with the basic package being $1200! Depends on the level of comfort you want.

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Elbrus HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Puncak Jaya

This one is crazy! It can be all the way up to $30k (!!) through Western Operators, I know Reagan, the owner of summitcarstensz.com, and he does it for around $10k. Use him!

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Puncak Jaya HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Mount Vinson

Eurrrgh. I just paid this. It’s f*cking painful. It’s basically it’s $45,000 – $55,000. So about FIFTY THOUSAND USD. There is no way around it. No way to do it cheaper. It is what it is.

How much does it cost to climb Mont Blanc

Lovely climb! There are 2 ways and marginally different costs. I did a 1 week ‘expedition’ (very comfortable, I feel guilty even calling in an expedition!). Which includes climbing Italy’s highest peak, El Paradiso, as acclimatization. This is common. So the price for a similar itinerary to mine is about $3k.

You can read my blog post about my experience climbing Mont Blanc HERE.

How much does it cost to climb Mount Kosciuszko

An answer you’re going to like. It costs about $50 (park entrance, and if you want the chairlift or not). Glorious.

You can read my blog post about my experience hiking Mount Kosciuszko HERE.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CLIMB THE 7 SUMMITS, TOTAL COST: $160,000 to $200,000

The total cost to climb the 7 summits is about $160,000USD*.

How much it cost me personally to climb the 7 summits?

I climbed all 9 peaks, and failed aconcagua once so had to do that twice!

So, including all the flights to get around the world, the insurance for Everest, Antarctica etc too, and failing aconcagua once, and having to back, AND all my specialist gear like the summit suit, extreme sleeping bags etc, it cost me about $190,000USD. Maybe even $200,000 if we include some other mountains as ‘training’ over the years etc. $200 is a nice round number too, AND the prices are only going up. So I would factor a number of $200,000USD as the Seven Summits TOTAL cost.

This doesn’t include gear or flights. And of course it depends on how much you spend on your gear, which operators you use, how you book your flights etc.

So a price range is a fairer answer, where the answer to how much does it costs to climb the 7 summits is somewhere between $160,000 to $200,000USD AS A MINIMUM. If you go with private guides, premium luxury options etc, this can easily double that to $300,000+.

OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 7 SUMMITS:

What are the seven summits?

I blogged that HERE.

How many people have climbed the seven summits?

As of 2024, it’s thought about 750 people or so have done the 7 summits.

How Much does it cost to go to the North Pole?

If you want to also reach both poles, get ready for more cost! Right now, it’s not possible as the Russians normally manage setting it up. However, when I ran the North Pole marathon (yes honestly) it cost about $20,000. And that was the cheapest way to reach the north pole.

How Much does it cost to go to the South Pole?

To fly in and out, about $60,000. To ski across the whole continent, about $100,000. If you package the fly in and fly out when you’re already climbing Mount Vinson, you can get it at a ‘discount’ where the total package is $90k for both Vinson and South Pole. So if we subtract the $52k of Vinson, then that means it cost an additional $38k for my South Pole trip. Eurrrgh.