Bass began thinking about one of his childhood heroes, Richard Halliburton. The early twentieth-century adventurer and writer had often mentioned wanting to sail the seven seas. What about climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents? Bass wondered. In addition to Denali, those would be Aconcagua in Argentina, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Elbrus in the Soviet Union, Vinson in Antarctica, Kosciuszko in Australia, and, of course, Everest in Nepal. As he later recounted in a book about his adventures, he thought, Christ, I’ve only got six to go.
