A quick trip down to Australia has put Wally Berg and Leila Silveira on the top of Mt. Kosciusko, They made the summit on September 7th and again on touring skis on September 8th. A few days of white-out conditions and sketchy snowpack were no match for these swashbucklers of the Seven Summits.
Fifteen years after climbing the Carstenz Pyramid in New Guinea (controversially considered by many to be one of the world’s Seven Summits), and ten years after completing that version of the Seven Summits by climbing Aconcagua in South America, Wally finally stood on the highest summit on continental Australia. “I finally climbed the Seven Summits,” says Wally, with an ironic grin. He adds, “Geography was my favourite subject in school…New Guinea is an island, but Australia is the true continent.”
Wally and Leila on their first day’s summit.
The Bergs on their second blue sky summit
Wally on top of Kosciuszko, marking his fourth completion of the Seven Summits
