Mountaineering
In 1897 Mount Saint Elias () on the Alaska-Yukon border was summitted by the Duke of the Abruzzi and party. But it was not until 1913 that Denali (), the tallest peak in North America, was successfully climbed by Hudson Stuck. Mount Logan (), the tallest peak in Canada was first summitted by a half dozen climbers in 1925 in an expedition that took more than two months.
In 1879-1880 the exploration of the highest Andes in South America began when English mountaineer Edward Whymper climbed Chimborazo () and explored the mountains of Ecuador. The Cordillera between Chile and Argentina was visited by Paul Güssfeldt in 1883, who ascended the volcano Maipo () and attempted to climb the tallest mountain in the Americas, Aconcagua () that same year but was unsuccessful. The summit of Aconcagua was finally reached on January 14, 1897 by Swiss mountaineer Matthias Zurbriggen during an expedition led by Edward FitzGerald that began in December 1896. The Andes of Bolivia were first explored by Sir William Martin Conway in 1898, who later visited the mountains of Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America.
Clifton Maloney
Maloney was an accomplished mountaineer who at the time of his death was believed to be the oldest American ever to summit an "Eight-thousander", one of the fourteen peaks in the world that are greater than 8,000 meters in altitude. He climbed five of the "Seven Summits", the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents, including Denali in Alaska, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, the Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Aconcagua in the Andes, and Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus. On September 24, 2009, at the age of 71, Maloney summited the nearly 27,000-foot peak of Cho Oyu, the world's sixth-highest mountain, in Tibet. He reached the summit of the "Turquoise Goddess", as the mountain is known, with the help of a sherpa and a guide, Marty Schmidt. He then descended to Camp 2 at 23,000 feet. On the morning of September 25, 2009 he woke up and told a companion, ""I'm the happiest man in the world -- I have just climbed a beautiful mountain."" These were apparently his last words as he went back to sleep and never woke up.