30^th birthday is for many a very special moment. It represents a milestone marker for all the expectations that people have. So they`re sitting, thinking where they are in their lives and verifying things, that they have or haven`t accomplished. When I turned 30, I did not such summaries. Instead of that, I decided to set some goals, that I intend to achieve over the next 30 years, to make them more special. So I have plenty of time!

One of them is to complete the so-called Europe`s Summits. It was actually hard for me to translate and find the equivalent name in English. There is a “Seven Summits” challenge. And by analogy to that, the “Europe`s Summits” was created. It is a list of the highest  peaks of each state on the continent of Europe. And it will have a separate category on my blog.

Mountains hold a special place in my heart. There is something magical in them. You feel exhausted, while climbing to the top, but yet, you desire to challenge yourself and go further and higher… And with every step you take, you feel a great deal of psychic relief. Not to mention a breathtaking views!

Fixing a list seems trivial at first. Unfortunately, different sources include lots of variations. There are some territorial disputes and inconsistencies, fx. whether Caucasus range (with mount Elbrus) lie in Asia or Europe. Nevertheless, it will be a very interesting challenge and I intend to achieve it. I`ve already climbed couple of them, but I want to start from a scratch.  So, there are at least 46 summits and not all of them are mountains. Some are simply hills, so in terms of “climbing” it is definitely not a big deal. But it will be a fun adventure and I will enjoy it, while ticking off the next point from the list! Then we`ll see what`s next…

Below you can see the list, that takes into account the summits within the boundaries set by the International Geographic Union.

Source: Wikipedia