WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: Seven Summits

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Join Nicole Sighiartau and Storm Drexler as they discuss some of their wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week they chat about the seven summits and which peaks they would most and least like to climb. 

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. Astila vista, it's Storm Drexler. And I'm Nicole Seguir-Tal, and we'll be your adventure buddies every week as we discuss some of our wildest stories from our outdoor endeavors. This week, we don't actually have any stories, because we're also talking about a topic that we are not involved with, really. That's true.

A thing we haven't done yet. Yet. Keyword yet. Keyword yet, because this is. is a really cool thing. We're talking about the seven summits. The seven summits. You may have heard of the seven wonders of the world, but what about the seven

highest places? Not really, but the seven highest places on each continent. On each continent. Yeah. So there's a list and we'll get more into that after trail markers. But for trail markers, I have a little question for Storm that he doesn't know the topic. This is becoming a pattern. I'm getting surprised

on this show. You're getting surprised because as I was walking here today, I was like, Dang, seasonal depression. Oh. Do you think, do you believe this? Like, do you think this is a real thing? Listen, I'm not going to spend too much time of the show on this. But boy, howdy, is this a thing?

If it's gray outside for too long, even my chipper attitude can be chipped. Exactly. And you know what, freshman year? I did not believe it. I was like, this isn't a thing. And then I remember March came around. I was like, oh my gosh, everything's wonderful again. Yeah, the flowers bloom and the birds' cherson.

It's like, I don't know, the sun is really so important for every ecosystem. Yeah. And when it's not directly smashing into my skin, I feel a little bit worse. And the longer that happens, more prolonged sun. Deprivation. Yeah, deprivation. There you go. The more sad I get.

Yeah. And sophomore year, I forgot it was a thing. So once more, one random sunny day in February, I was like, oh, everything's wonderful. And I was like, oh, seasonal depression. Yeah. But this year, this year I have identified. it early. Yeah. Because on Monday, maybe not Monday. On Tuesday, I woke up and I was like, no. Not today. I have not been throughout my life a person who watches as much TV. I've watched

a lot of TV in the last two weeks. And I'm like, what's happening? Oh yeah. Outside's terrible. And I don't want to leave indoors. Yeah. Which is not great when you run an outdoors podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's kind of why I wanted to bring it up because I was supposed to go on a run on Wednesday and I it's too day and cold girl it was too cold and I was like I don't want to and I'm not going to base so I think there's a time and a place where it's like yeah discipline's a really good thing and like sometimes it is good to push yourself to go outside because ultimately it typically makes you feel better but I think it's okay that every once in a while it's like if you know you just need a day off take the day off and I felt so much better and today I was like re-motivated to go for a

run it was fine dandy but I'm motivated to climb a mountain yeah The seven summits. Mm-hmm. So what are the seven summits, Nicole? Well, by name, we have, well, I can go in order of elevation. They are on each continent, on the seven continents of the world, of planet Earth, the highest mountains on each one. And they're kind of their own collection of exclusive hikes. Some of them are really, really difficult to get to, even to arrive at, according to my research that I did.

particularly the Antarctica one. Yeah. Which I totally forgot that that even counted. And Karzan's Pyramid. And the one out in. Viji. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. I have some fun facts about the one in Viji. But anyway, we're going to just list them off. Highest to lowest. So obviously the highest, Mount Everest, that's Asia's. It's 29,000, 32 feet. And of course, these heights can vary a little bit by snowpack. I went to that one one time, but it was in Florida.

I was at Disney World. Oh, nice. Nice, nice. We have one in Disneyland in California. Expedition Everest. We don't have a ride, but we have, oh, no, it's the Matterhorn. I'm so wrong. We have Expedition Everest and Bigfoot chases you, or a Yeti, I guess, chases you, and it's awesome.

That's fun. Second highest is in South America, Akon Kagawa, 22,834 feet. Then in third, we have North America, Denali, 20,310 feet. Then we have... It's in Alaska. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

I think we should be a little more specific. Nepal. Where's the one in South America? I think it's in Argentina. I think so. Yeah. And then Alaska. And then in Africa, we have Kilimanjaro. That is... What a classic. 19,340 feet. Yeah. We out in Tanzania. Yes. In Europe, we have Mel Elbrass, 18,510 feet. I believe that's Russia. It is in Russia. Antarctica. Vinson Massif, 16,050 feet. Antarctica. Yeah, there's no specification. Is Antarctica? Anarcha is not a country. I mean it's international territory

Is it? Yeah Okay Because it's not actually owned by anybody Or by any government Just wait, Musk will buy it up or something The Penguin Kingdom Yeah And then finally for

The shortest one Well yeah so there's some There's some debate over this one So we have Australia Mount Kozyk I can't say this How do you spell it? K-O-S-C-I-U-S-Z-K-O

Yeah and it's only like 16,000? No, that's 7,310 feet. So there's two in debate. So there's like eight summits. So Oceania. I think that the Punkok Jaya, the one in Indonesia. Yeah. I think that the list I found counts that one above the one you're talking about. Because it counts like Oceania, like New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia all is kind of the same continent. So Carson's pyramid, 16,000, 23 feet. On some list, Mount Kazikuzzo, whatever, we're going to call it. that. Yeah, Cozy Cousa. Cosicuzo in Australia is considered. So some people, they just do all eight because they want to cover all their bases. So I'm going to include it in the list.

I didn't even think about that one. Oh, well, okay, the reason I know about the seven, the reason I know about the seven summits is in fourth grade, I went to the book fair. And there was a book called No Summit Out of Sight. And little hiker girl me was like, oh, I have to get that book. And it's really cool. It's about this kid, Jordan Romero. And by the age of 15, he did all eight.

That's so cool. He did Mount Everest at 13 years old and is the youngest person to have climbed Everest. And what's even cooler is he lives like two hours away from where I live. That's a beatable world record. Put your baby in your backpack and get to top with your baby. No, because you actually have to. Okay. So what are we going to do?

We're going to say the one that we most want to do in our lifetime and the one we ain't touching with a 40,000 foot pole. Yes. I think we should start off with that because I do have a ranking and then I feel like we can we can get more into the reasons as to why we have our ranking. Do you want to go first with one you least would like to do? I kind of have gone back and forth on this one because part of me really wants to say that I like wouldn't want to do the one in Antarctica or I wouldn't want to do the one in Alaska, which is, what's that one called? Denali. Yeah, I'm not Donali. Probably known as Mount McKinley. Yes. I bet a lot of listeners would recognize the name Mount McKinley.

That's what I had heard of. And I was reading about Mount Nadali and I was like, this is so cool. And then it was like, no one is Mount McKinley in the 1900s. I was like, oh. So part of me wants to put those immediately as last place because I don't like the cold.

Okay. You know, you're going to be cold in all of them. Yeah, you're kind of, well, except for Carson's pyramid. Yes. But specifically in Mount Donali, it's like you're treking across this glacier,

apparently that you have to like do this whole glacier ridge line. So a part of me says no, but a part of me says yes. Part of you says yes. Well, interestingly, those kind of landed in the middle of my list, actually, because I think that going to Antarctica and climbing a mountain would be super duper sick. You can ski down that one. You can ski down that one. And Mr. Beast went to Antarctica, and it didn't look that bad. Oh, okay. Yeah. Nice. What I will say about Denali is sometimes it is known as the hardest because it is the most elevation gain. Because from out Everest, you start higher. So even though Everett, is the tallest, the elevation gain that you have is less than the elevation gain on Denali.

Because in Denali, you start a lot lower. Weather is actually more of a problem up there, surprisingly. Yeah. And because it's a further trek, you have to carry so much more food and equipment, and you have to, like, trudge it along with sleds. So Denali is a beast, and sometimes it sounds the most difficult. Yeah. I think I will actually put Denali or McKinley as my bottom one.

I would rather go to Antarctica. And I think that the, what's the vision massive? Vincent. The Vincent Massif. Yeah. And Antarctica is cooler and would be a more fun experience. Yeah. So that's like my third or fourth seed.

Okay. Okay. Okay. My bottom spot is Karzen's pyramid or Pungkak Jaya. And the reason for it is because there are cannibals that live near the mountain. So to get there, you don't have to worry about the mountain beating you up. I mean, you do because it goes. goes up to class 5.8 climbing because it's very, it's technical rock climbing.

But there was. Yeah, I saw it was the only one that you need actual rock climbing to accomplish. Yeah, you need actual rock climbing skills. But we had a speaker here. I forgot his name. But he did Mount Everest and he's actually going, I believe, in May to go do this mountain. And the thing is, he told a story. He was like, he had a friend who went and they flew a helicopter and the cannibal shot the helicopter pilot.

So the helicopter crashed and then the cannibals got him. Got him. So he's going with a pilot and a friend and his friend can also drive a helicopter. So if the pilot gets shot, then the helicopter pilot or his friend can fly them. I think on the bright side, if you ran out of food, you could just fit in and eat your companions. Ah, I don't think they would accept you. Do you think if you displayed cannibalism yourself, the cannibals would spare you? Because think about it, it's a bunch of cancableness.

cannibals. They couldn't eat themselves, but they've banded together. So if you're like, me like you, and you bite your finger off your friend, like we're hiking it together, I bite your finger off. And I'm like, ah, my gosh, and you like take a chunk out of my shoulder. We like you, they spare us and let us finish getting to the top of the pyramid. I don't know. But anyway, that's the one I would least like to do. It just sounds, it just sounds like a lot. Because if you don't fly the helicopter, then you're hiking through the jungle and then you're on their ground and they will, they will go after you. So I don't, I don't think that's one for me. That's fair. I feel like I'd like to fight cannibals. Okay. You're listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.1.7 FM.

Now let's talk about the ones we most want to do. I have a, I have a take. You have a hot take? Yeah. So I think that the one that's like obvious on everyone's mind is Mount Kilimanjaro. Okay. Because it's like cool and mystique. And apparently there's like ancient wise spirits that haunt Mount Kilimanjaro. Really? Dead Sense. that have made their trek from up through Asia down through like past the Nile to Kilimanjara to climb it. Okay. It has, it kind of has that like lonely mountain vibe. Yeah, no, because it is just right there all by itself.

Yeah, yeah. And also I think a lot of people want to go to Africa, but it's like they want more of a reason to go there than just like go see the animals. Yeah. So I don't know. It's one of the one that's more recognizable. It's kind of a household name. Yeah. So like it's be like, oh, you know, I mean, I hiked Mount Elbrus in Russia.

cool but if you're like dude I reached the top of Kilimanjaro and I balanced on a bow staff yeah I held my hands out and like meditation poses people recognize the name it's it's known as one of the easiest um although Mont Kazikuzzo in australia is only 7,310 feet and that's a hike basically yeah the but I don't want to do that one that one sounds lame Gilmanjaro no uh Mount cosi Kuzzo in Australia yeah yeah i think so too it's kind of the obvious pick but it's still the one that I want to do the most. I liked that when I was researching and looking, I'm like reading about it.

It was like, it was like there was the best times of year to hike these mountains. And a lot of them were very limited. Like it was like, here's the only time of the year where you should go. For Tanzania, they were like, if you're going to hike Kilimanjaro,

dude, do it any time of year. But do not do it in April or November because there's humongous monsoons that'll fling you off the set of them. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I was like, that's awesome. But that is a pretty big weather window

because you're right for a lot of these, it's like you have a couple of months. 10 months of a year, you're good to do it. And some of these climbs take forever and ever and ever to do. Everest, Denali, those take a while. Acclimatization is very important. If you say that the one you want to climb most is Everest, I will be shocked.

I don't. Okay. I actually, I don't want to do Everest. I do want to talk about Everest before you're doing your top spot, though. Okay, we can talk about it. Because the mystique of Everest overhyped. I agree. I think it is overhyped

and I mean you see those pictures of all those people waiting in line to get to the summit and because objectively at this point if you have enough money you can do it. Yes you have to be in some decent physical shape but if you can pay for a Sherpa

to take all your gear and if you can pay for like the high tech jackets and everything and if you have the money for it and you put your mind to it you can do it and I think it's overhyped and it's overcrowded and I don't want to see dead bodies. That's also

So that's actually the reason I would go. I want to see all the frozen people in the snow. That's cool. That's like my biggest reason for not going. My biggest reason for not going is because I have to wait. I have to wait in line. That, and you know what the other thing is? And the Yetis are scary.

Well, I don't care about the Yetis. But because there's so many people there who are not experienced with mountaineering, I don't trust those people. I agree. I agree. I think it's like stupid people are dangerous. They don't know what they're doing. They have a lot of money.

They probably don't have a lot of experience. experience and on the mountain experience is really valuable like if you are in a life or death situation you come across another party that's going up you want to know that these people have been on other mountains they know what to do and they can help you and take care of you as opposed to some guy who's like yeah this is my first mountain ever and I just want to do it yep so I agree Everest is overhyped and I I have literally no desire to do it I want to go to base camp yeah but that's it whereas if you're you know like out at out at out in, I don't know, Argentina doing Ocanaqua, you're like, if you run into other people there,

they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. Because nobody's going out of their way to go to Ocanagua or something. And that's my number one. Is it actually? It is actually. Yeah, I liked it too. It was in my top three.

It's one of the easiest from what I've heard because the boy who did it, it was his second, second seven summit that they did. I believe it was either that or Elbris. Because Elbris is also pretty easy. But I think it's cool because it's really tall. It's second tallest, 22,834 feet. Is it the second tallest point? the world. No. No? No. This, in, on the continent of South America. Oh, are there,

are there mountains that are taller than it in Asia that are shorter than Everest? Oh, yeah. There's a ton. There's 14, 8,000 meter peaks. Holy smokes. Is it, is it 8,000 or is it, uh, maybe it's 4,000? 8,000. But it's the tallest point in the Americas. Yes. Yes. And, and this side of the globe. Yeah, I was right. There are 14, 8,000. meter peaks and um, Andrew wants to do one. Jimmy, fact check that. Yeah. That's fun. Uh, but no, Akhan, Kagu, however you pronounce it. I probably should have looked up pronunciations, but it just didn't happen. Akanagua? Akanagua. Yeah. Akangagua. Uh, the, the biggest thing about that is there's something known as the death wind, I believe. The death wind? Yes. I'm, oh yeah, because people,

like, like, most people turn back. That's what I read about. Everyone like is like, people don't make it, because of the weather, not because it's dangerous weather, because it's just so uncomfortable. Yeah. Extreme rapid onset weather, including fierce cold winds. And they get it because I believe the wind comes from over the sea. And it'll pick up. Because you're in the Andes, right? Well, it's close to the Pacific.

So violent winds, sudden whiteout conditions. So yeah, the weather is a big factor just like it is with McKinley, Denali. However, I do think it's like my number one. And then following that, I had Kilmenjur. because that's also, as you said, iconic and cool. And it's very different than the rest of them. The rest have snow. Yeah, I think there's snow higher up.

But for the most part, it's like, it's just a trail. I feel like you'd see cool animals. Like Kilimanjaro, too. Mm-hmm. You ain't seeing nobody if you're in Alaska, except like maybe a moose at the bottom. Even then, because you have to, you have to fly in by a plane to get to the glacier. Right. Yeah.

And then I had Elbrus. I was about honorable mention Mount Elbris. Yeah. Kind of loki, the most boring of all of the ones. the list. A little bit. Apparently, there's like a ski mountain by it, and so you can take the, either you can take a snow cat down if you get to it by a certain time. Or you can take the gondola down or something. I would highly recommend if you're interested to learn more, read the book, No Summit Out of Sight. Very inspiring. He's a young kid. He wrote it when he was young after he

finished doing it. And you get to see the whole fundraiser process and his dad went with him and his aunt with what went with him and it's just it's really cool family hike family hike yeah we guys take me will you you and Andrew take me up a mountain uh of 14,000 foot peak yes yeah no not a 22,000 no that's the other thing these are really expensive yes most of them require special permits or guides yeah or Sherpas uh-huh get you even there because I think I found that the budget for like Elbris, Kilimanjaro, and, well, those are like 5,000 each, what your budget should be. But then everything else just, like, is exponential. Like, um, Vincent is $45,000 or something.

That's college. Yeah. That's like a year of college. It's crazy. Would you rather climb that mountain or go to college? Can I, can I give my answer? Yeah. Climb that mountain.

Realistically, that is the answer. Because. Everyone in their mom has gotten to college. college. But have you climbed Mount Vincent? Nope. Can you put that on your resume? Cannot say that I have.

I actually really do want to do Kilimanjara. Like that's a real real goal. There are some of the Rockies as well that I want to do. But like, I don't know. I would not ever make it my goal to climb all seven of these. I wouldn't either purely because of Everest. I honestly think the rest I could do. Karzan's pyramid is very technical, though.

Like, the rock climbing skills you have to. Yeah, the rock climbing skills you have to have. plus the cannibals, plus the fact we have to take a helicopter to get in. It's just like, if something goes wrong.

Cannibles are a bonus, but rock climbing is a no. Is a no? Yeah. Yeah, I think the rock climbing, it sounds intriguing, but I'd rather do it in a safer environment.

Yeah. To do next week when we talk about the seven lowest points in the globe and the ocean trenches and where we want to swim. Oh. That's certainly a

fun idea. I like that we haven't been there. Just a side note, we've never been to the lowest point in the world. No, that's true. Nobody's been down there. You should be the first. No. We have people for those things. We have deep sea scuba divers. Yeah, I don't think anyone could scuba dive that deep. I wonder if there's like a, there's like a annual meeting between like the scuba like the divers and the climbers where they're like, how are things up top? They're pretty good, dude. They're windy, but how are things down there? That's pretty dark. Can't see anything. Can't see much of anything.

Us too. I want to bring up one more kind of remarkable point. I don't know if it's just because these are the seven highest on each continent, but it's like they are relatively easy. Yeah. In comparison to like how technical they could be because a lot of other mountains in South America. I might still get a little tired from these. A little bit.

Yeah. I may be a little worn out. But it's like technicality wise, they're not too bad, which is kind of cool in itself. Yeah. Still, like, don't just pick up a backpack and go do it, but at the same time, like, you're not looking at extreme, extreme mountaineering. And again, that could just be because they have good routes for them. Well, let us know in the comments section. Do we have that?

Yeah, let us know in the comment section on Spotify. Which mountain you would like to most climb. Also, we have a transistor page. I don't know the name of the link, but if you look us up on transistor, you should be able to find our podcast. That's right. And you can, if you're listening on the radio, you can listen to our reruns or something. Yeah, exactly. All right, well, thank you for listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

We hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. We'll see you out there. Happy trails. See you on the slopes, gang. Bye, guys.