Eight great peaks to start your climbing

career
© Dan Patitucci
Written by Brendan Leonard19 October 2016
Ready to accumulate vertical, but short on skills? These are the world's easiest mountains
to climb.
1. Mount Fuji, Japan, 3,776m
Mount Fuji is a striking, singular peak rising almost 4,000m above
Japan’s capital city, and one of the most-climbed mountains in the world.
The hike up the most popular route, Kawaguchiko, is a great introduction
to the stamina needed for climbing mountains, without technical terrain
— the hike, all on well-established trail, starts at 2,300m and ends at the
summit at 3,776m, and takes about eight hours round-trip for fit
individuals. The official hiking season is only two months, July 1 to
August 31.
Mt Fuji from above.
© BLACKSTATION/GETTY IMAGES

2. Pikes Peak, United States, 4,302m

Pikes Peak gets hikers about as high as they can get in the continental
United States — 4,302m, all on a good trail. And if you get to the top and
don’t feel like walking back down, you can hop on the cog railway or
hitch a ride in a car from one of the tourists who have driven up the road
on the mountain’s north side. From the trailhead, the 21km hiking route
gains 2,250m, a strenuous day of hiking that gives aspiring mountaineers
a taste of what it takes to climb big mountains.
Pikes Peak, in Colorado.
© DON GRALL/GETTY IMAGES

3. Tofana di Rozes, Italy, 3,225m

The Dolomites’ Tofana di Rozes offers a great mountain hiking
experience, gaining 1,200m from the trailhead to the summit, and adds
in a component of exposed rock climbing—on novice-friendly via ferrata,
providing all the experience of rock climbing without needing the
expertise and knowledge of how to use rock climbing safety equipment.
The Ferrata Lipella is one of the longest, but not most difficult via ferrata
in Italy, a system of iron ladders, rungs, and cables that the climber is
tethered into in case of a fall. The entire climb usually takes five hours,
four hours of which are spent on via ferrata.
The Tofana di Rozes, in Italy.
© DAN PATITUCCI

4. Mount Hood, United States, 3,426m

The Pacific Northwest of the United States is a great training ground for
the big mountains of the world, with large glaciated volcanic peaks that
require all the skills used on 8,000m peaks, without the high altitude.
Mount Hood is one of the least-committing peaks in the area, and a great
first snow climb for climbers who are new to crampons and ice axes. The
most common summit route, the South Side Route, is a half-day climb
from the Timberline Lodge, and is guided regularly from late April
through June every year.
Oregon's Mt Hood beckons
© RICHARD HALLMAN

5. Breithorn (via the Normal Route), Switzerland, 4,164m

The Breithorn’s western summit may be the most-climbed 4,000m peak
in the Alps, thanks to the Klein Matterhorn cable car, which takes
climbers to 3,883m, less than 300m below the summit. From that point,
though, climbers head across and up a glacier and snow climbing up to
35 degrees, requiring use of crampons and ice axe. It’s a short climb, but
its snow climbing and high altitude make it a good entree for beginning
mountaineers.
The Breithorn is nestled in the midst of the Alps
© DAN PATITUCCI

6. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 5895m

Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain, and one of the world’s highest
free-standing peaks, a volcano almost 6,000m high. And that’s the
biggest challenge in climbing it — adjusting to the thin air at altitude. All
of the routes on Kilimanjaro require a local guide, but are simply hiking
on trails. Most guide services take clients from the start of the climb at
around 1,800m to the 5,895m summit over the course of five or six days,
allowing climbers to acclimatise to the increasingly thin air. It provides
aspiring mountaineers the chance to see how their bodies react at high
altitude without the technical or objective risks (avalanches, crevasse
falls) of other high mountains.
What's taller than a giraffe? Kilimanjaro.
© DARYL BALFOUR/GETTY IMAGES

7. Pico de Orizaba, Mexico, 5636m

A climb of Mexico’s highest mountain gives mountaineers a snow-
climbing experience on a glacier that’s not heavily crevassed, and
moderate altitude. Most guide services include several days on lower
peaks to acclimatise, and then push for Orizaba’s 5,636m summit over
one or two days. Summit day on the normal route begins at the Piedra
Grande hut on a trail, then transitions to the Jamapa Glacier at about
5,000m, and climbs 40-degree snow and ice to the summit.
Pico de Orizaba, in Mexico.
© CHRISTIAN KOBER/GETTY IMAGES

8. Island Peak, Nepal, 6,189m

Sometimes called 'the world’s easiest 6,000m peak,' Island Peak is the
most popular 'trekking peak' in Nepal – peaks classified as attainable by
climbers with some mountaineering experience. The climb isn’t a walk-
up, though. It still requires an alpine start (two or three in the morning)
and use of crampons and ice axe. Most parties tackle the 1000m climb
from base camp to summit in one day, but many choose to take two days
to climb. Many guide services include a trek to Everest Base Camp in
their Island Peak itineraries.
Nepal's Island Peak
© FOTOVOYAGER/GETTY IMAGES