Climbing the Seven Summits from sea to sea

by Viviana Cristea

On 1 January 2024, Romanian-British mountaineer and AAC(UK) member Cris Cristea began his most terrifying adventure yet - following his dream. He was attempting to become the first person to climb the Seven Summits, each continent’s highest mountain, both from and back to sea level. His adventure would begin with the highest mountain in South America, Aconcagua at 6961m. Starting by the sea in Chile, it would take him over 500km to reach Aconcagua’s summit and return to the sea. On his journey, he’d have to cross over the Andes even to reach the mountain. After battling wind storms, high-altitude sickness and exhaustion he eventually succeeded.

Three days later Cris flew to Tanzania to begin an 800km journey to Kilimanjaro’s summit from the Indian Ocean and back. He would need to cross the avanna in the blistering heat, camping and staying in small villages, to reach the 5895m mountain. By 2 March he was back by the ocean.

I and my wife, Viv, have made a documentary of his journey to the first two summits.

You can watch how I went from broke to climbing the 7 Summits on this YouTube Video

Return whence you came