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"Russian mountaineer Dmitri Pilshchikov from Novy Urengoy has become just the 71st person in the world to take on and defeat the 'Seven Volcanoes' challenge, spending three years conquering some of the highest peaks on every continent and the highest summit in Oceania. Footage filmed in May 2025 shows Pilshchikov climbing Everest with his team, while in October of the same year he reached the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas. The video recorded in January 2026 also captures the Sidley volcanic massif in Antarctica. On Sunday, the adventurer reflected on his journey and revealed that the most difficult parts were ascents of Ojos del Salado in South America - the world’s highest volcano at nearly 7,000 metres - and Mount Sidley in Antarctica, marked by extreme cold and constant blizzards. On Mount Giluwe in Papua New Guinea, the climbers even faced a scary encounter with residents of a nearby village. "Local Papuans had some sort of conflict among themselves and attacked our group with huge machetes. They started swinging them, cutting our belongings, chopping up all our food. It was completely unpredictable," Pilshchikov said. He also stressed that the greatest challenge turned out to be the constant exhaustion. "Travelling far away to another part of the world with heavy bags, spending a lot of time there… Flights often involve five layovers and take up to two days. At some point I got really tired of it and started having doubts," Pilshchikov shared. However, he said that despite huge risks there was also massive personal reward - adding that climbing helps people see both the world and themselves differently. The 'Seven Volcanoes' challenge is a mountaineering challenge, scaling the highest volcano on each of the seven continents. Pilshchikov revealed that he aimed to earn the 'Snow Leopard' title next, awarded to climbers who summit all five seven-thousanders located in the former Soviet Union. It is considered one of the most prestigious and difficult achievements in mountaineering. "
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