  vinson massif () is the highest mountain of antarctica, lying in the sentinel range of the ellsworth mountains, which stand above the ronne ice shelf near the base of the antarctic peninsula. the massif is located about  from the south pole and is about  long and  wide. at  the highest point is mount vinson, which was named in 2006 after carl vinson, long-time member of the u.s. congress from the state of georgia. vinson massif was first seen in 1958 and first climbed in 1966. an expedition in 2001 was the first to climb via the eastern route, and also took gps measurements of the height of the peak. as of february 2010, 1,400 climbers have attempted to reach the top of mount vinson. ==geography== the massif extends between goodge col and branscomb glacier to the northwest, nimitz glacier and gildea glacier to the southwest and south, dater glacier and its tributary hinkley glacier to the east. the southeastern part of the massif ends at hammer col, which joins it to the craddock massif, of which the highest point is mount rutford (). the massif comprises both the high central vinson plateau with its few peaks rising to over , and several side ridges mostly trending southwest or northeast from the plateau. the current height () resulted from a gps survey by the 2004 omega foundation team comprising damien gildea of australia (leader) and rodrigo fica and camilo rada of chile. since 1998 and continuing through 2007, the omega foundation has placed a gps recei
Ellsworth_Mountains Filchner-Ronne_Ice_Shelf Mountains_of_Antarctica Seven_Summits