Editing Seven Summits (section)

===Criticism===
[[File:K2, Mount Godwin Austen, Chogori, Savage Mountain.jpg|thumb|K2, about {{convert|800|ft}} shorter than Everest]]
Alpinism author [[Jon Krakauer]] (1997) wrote in ''[[Into Thin Air]]''{{sfn|Krakauer|1997|p=24}} that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent, known as the [[Seven Second Summits]] – a feat that was not accomplished until January 2013. This discussion had previously been published in an article titled ''The Second Seven Summits'' in Rock & Ice Magazine (#77) authored by the mountaineer and Seven Summits completer David Keaton. This is especially true for Asia, as [[K2]] (8,611 m) demands greater technical climbing skills than [[Mount Everest|Everest]] (8,848 m), while altitude-related factors such as the thinness of the atmosphere, high winds and low temperatures remain much the same. Some of those completing the seven ascents are aware of the magnitude of the challenge. In 2000, in a foreword to Steve Bell et al., [[#CITEREFBellet._al2000|''Seven Summits'']], Morrow opined "[t]he only reason Reinhold [Messner] wasn't the first person to complete the seven was that he was too busy gambolling up the [[Eight-thousander|14 tallest mountains in the world]]."<ref>Morrow, Pat [http://courses.csusm.edu/lbst361bby/~DATA/~EVEREST-site/0_history/1985_7summits/00_Everest_7summits.pdf "Foreword"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012112647/http://courses.csusm.edu/lbst361bby/~DATA/~EVEREST-site/0_history/1985_7summits/00_Everest_7summits.pdf |date=October 12, 2012 }}, ''Seven Summits''. Retrieved 2012-03-03.</ref>
In January 2023, a writer for ''[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]]'' said "Today, the Seven Summits are a relatively common{{snd}}almost cliché{{snd}}tour of each continent's highest peak", and that the real challenge was the [[Explorer's Grand Slam]], the Seven Summits with the [[North Pole|North]] and [[South Pole|South]] poles.<ref>{{cite web | magazine=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/people/an-americans-grand-slam/ | title=Book Review: Becoming the First American to Complete the Explorer's Grand Slam | date=3 January 2023 |accessdate=6 January 2023| first=Daniel | last=Noonan}}</ref>