When Mark Milewski reached the summit of Puncak Jaya in Indonesia this August, he became approximately the 160th person to ever master the seven summits: the highest mountain on each continent.
That includes Mount Everest, which Milewski – a West Hartford resident, business professor at Tunxis Community College, and scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 25 in Manchester – successfully climbed in May of 2016.
Milewski’s path to the rare feat began when he was in his youth. His parents were in a hiking club and they would take him, his brother, and his sister along with them on their hikes. But it was the Boy Scouts that really deepened his interest in it.
“One part of the experience was a week on the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire,” Milewski said. “My father came along and I really enjoyed that, so I took an Outward Bound course the next summer in Colorado. That was 23 days of mountaineering. I loved it.”
It was safe to say that at that point he had gotten the itch for hiking. When he graduated from Syracuse University, he took an 83 day outward bound course focusing on multiple elements.
After graduate school, he went back to finish what he got a taste of by completing the entire Appalachian Trail.
“I totally recommend that for everyone,” Milewski said. “It was such a wonderful experience. It took six months. That was such a life-enriching experience.”
User Upload Caption: Mark Milewski on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2008.
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With professional life beginning, Milewski knew he could no longer take six months off to hike. Instead, he turned his attention to higher mountains.
“The opening was Mount Rainier in Washington state,” Milewski said. “It’s a glacier and everything you’ll find on the higher mountains you’ll experience on Mount Rainier. You have crevasses, snow travel, you learn how to rope up and be part of a rope team and you learn how to use an ice axe.”
Milewski felt ready to start tackling the seven summits, the highest mountain each continent. When it comes to Australia, many climbers – including Milewski – consider the entirety of Oceania and choose the taller and more challenging Puncak Jaya in Indonesia, rather than Mount Kosciuszko in Australia. To be thorough, though, Milewski also climbed Mount Kosciuszko.
His first climb was Mount Elbrus – with an elevation of 18,510 feet – in Russia. He climbed the mountain in 2007.
He soon began to find that his was going to be one adventurous way to see the world.
“It was a wonderful way to see the world,” Milewski said. “It was the way that I would want to see it. I don’t want to spend all of my time in museums. I love the outdoors, so it was great to do it this way and be part of teams and meet the fascinating people.”
Milewski then successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2008, Mount Denali in Alaska in 2009, and then Mount Aconcagua in Argentina at the very end of 2009.
“I kept going to the next higher one,” Milewski said.
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When he was finished in Argentina, Milewski took a break. He felt like he was staring Mount Everest in the face.
“I had a decision to make,” Milewski said. “I don’t know whether I foresaw myself climbing Everest in 2009. There’s a lot of money to raise. It’s an expensive endeavor. But somewhere along the way I did decide that I had actually gained the skills to climb Everest competently. I didn’t want to be one of those to be guided up with no knowledge.”
It wouldn’t be until 2016 that he would attempt climbing the mountain with the highest elevation in the world, which he did with success.
The smaller Mount Vinson Massif, on Antarctica, followed in January of 2019 before completing the seven summits by climbing Puncak Jaya in Indonesia just a few months ago in August.
Of all those climbs, Milewski said he likes to bring some special attention to Mount Denali in Alaska. It has a 50 percent success rate, which is lower than Everest’s, he said.
“Mountaineers probably look upon a summit of Denali with greater respect than Everest,” Milewski said. “You’re really doing it all on your own. You may be part of a team, but nonetheless, I carried a 60 pound pack and towed an 80 pound sled. You don’t have any Sherpa support. It’s all you and your team. You have to dig out your camp out of the snow. You have to build snow walls so your tents don’t blow down in the wind. You’ve got to do everything. And there’s all the dangers of Everest.”
Reaching that final summit in Indonesia, Milewski said his accomplishment felt very bittersweet.
“Finishing a big accomplishment is always bittersweet for me,” Milewski said. “On the Appalachian Trail, I kind of wanted to just turn around and keep going. I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want it to end, but I was very glad for the accomplishment. With the seven summits, I had been at this for over 10 years, and I always liked having something to look forward to. Now, I feel like there’s a little bit of a void because there had always been that next mountain.”
Milewski has other goals, though, and there will always be something new to explore, climb, and conquer. Right now, he’s attempting to climb the 100 highest mountains in New England.
“There’s always something to be done,” Milewski said. “I have learned to enjoy the journey. I used to be purely about the accomplishment in the early days. Now, I just enjoy the experience of being out there.”
