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You always hear about people doing the state highpoints, but I wonder who in the world has reached the top of the most country highpoints? If I had the time and money, I'd love to simply visit every country on earth, but adding a summit for each would be pretty sweet as well (not to mention difficult, of course). I'm guessing the climber with the most country summits would be some European who climbed a bunch there before moving on to the Andes and Himalaya, but who knows? I can think of a few people on this site who are probably around a dozen or so. Just something I was thinking about..

Here's the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... hest_point

Interesting question. Seems like there would be access issues for many of those countries making getting anywhere near a complete list difficult.

I'd put my money on Gerry Roach. Dude has climbed everything.

North Korea ain't happening anytime soon, that's for sure. I believe Burma's high point (somewhere north of 19,000 feet!!) may also be unclimbed and the government there, last I saw, wasn't allowing people to try. Saudi Arabia may be another tough one, mainly because of access issues. But I'll bet most of the rest are more accessible.

That's one list that'd take such a diversity of skill and resources, I highly doubt it will ever be done. Some people have made admirable progress, though--I'm aware of several who have climbed Europe's national highpoints, and a British guy by the name of Ginge Fullen has done a significant fraction of the world's highpoints, including almost all of Africa! Some national highpoints are all-but-impossible to reach (Yemen and Colombia come to mind, for instance) but many are mere hikes or treks, with a decent handful of expeditions and major climbs involved.

Myself, I at one point had three national highpoints--Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Then it turned out that they resurveyed another spot in Luxembourg higher a few years later, and recently the Netherlands took more direct ownership of some islands in the Caribbean which have higher land. Thus, I've been cut down to one national highpoint! Bummer...

I think a vacation to the Maldives is in order for that 7' highpoint.

I've got one, or two if Hong Kong counts.

What are some of the easier national ones, anyway? A road goes up to Thailand's. A tram goes most of the way up to Germany's (the Zugspitze). If Japan's is Fuji, it's similar to climbing Hood or Shasta. Ben Nevis is is very popular climb too, but a bit hard to get to.

ChrisinAZ wrote: Myself, I at one point had three national highpoints--Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Then it turned out that they resurveyed another spot in Luxembourg higher a few years later, and recently the Netherlands took more direct ownership of some islands in the Caribbean which have higher land. Thus, I've been cut down to one national highpoint! Bummer...

Man, that sucks......knocked down by 66%!
I know how much work it can be trying to get access to remote places like that in other countries where the "herd" does not go.
This is the kind of activity I first think of when people start talking about winning the lottery;
especially when someone starts with how bored they would be without a job, or how they would just keep working anyway!
WTF??!???!???!???!

Shawnee Bob wrote:North Korea ain't happening anytime soon, that's for sure. I believe Burma's high point (somewhere north of 19,000 feet!!) may also be unclimbed and the government there, last I saw, wasn't allowing people to try.

Safety tip to potential aspirants: your poaching of Culebra should not be considered applicable experience. By the standards you are likely to encounter, you will come to realize that Lou Pai and the Costilla County Sheriff were both remarkably reasonable.

There are lots of easy ones in Europe...Hungary, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, LIthuania, Monaco, San Marino, Belarus come to mind as drive-ups or short hikes. Ukraine, UK, Ireland, Andorra, Slovakia, Poland and several of the Balkans are 1-2 day hikes. Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Turkey, and a few others are major climbs. Some of the weird ones: both Spain and Portugal have highpoints not on the European continent--they're in the Canary Islands and Azores, respectively. Tiny Liechtenstein has the Grauspitz, apparently a crazy steep and exposed 4th-class climb by its easiest route. Albania and Macedonia share a highpoint, Golem Korab, which is surrounded by a profusion of land mines!

In spite of this, Europe is still probably the least insane continent to try to climb everything. Africa and Asia would be the most difficult.

I've got Ben Nevis... with any luck in a decade I'll have about 3 more (Denali, Aconcagua and Orizaba). I need to get to work!

PS - Ben Nevis is super easy to get to. Drive to Ft. William, park at the th and head up. It's like an easy 14er w/o the altitude.

ChrisinAZ, I think you definitely get the grandfather clause, you're still at 3 in my book!

Interesting links to peakbagger. The 50 prominence list is certainly more difficult from a climbing perspective, but the cultural aspects of climbing in every country would be my main draw. As said earlier, now if I could only win the lottery.

Oh, and I think the rule in the Maldives is that you have to climb a palm tree to count it :D