Johann Peiris, Sri Lanka’s trailblazing mountaineer, has made history by completing the world’s ultimate mountaineering challenge, the Seven Summits, scaling the highest mountain on each continent. He becomes the first Sri Lankan man to achieve this feat, planting the national flag in places no Sri Lankan has ever stood before.
His final climb was Denali (6,190m), the brutal crown of North America. Battling sub-zero temperatures, heavy loads and treacherous weather, Johann reached High Camp at 5,243m, the last staging post before the summit, before being forced to turn back due to severe storms and avalanche risk.
Over the course of a decade, Johann pushed past every setback to claim a place in history through his remarkable Seven Summits journey. He began in 2014 with Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, standing at 5,895 metres. In 2016, he made his first attempt at Mount Everest in Asia, and after a failed try, returned to successfully summit its 8,849-metre peak in 2018. He conquered Mount Kosciuszko in Australia (2,228m) in 2019, followed by Mount Elbrus in Europe (5,642m) in 2023.
In 2025, Johann made history as the first Sri Lankan to summit Mount Vinson in Antarctica (4,892m), and continued his pursuit with Aconcagua in South America, where he reached within 200 metres of the 6,961-metre summit amid violent weather. He also reached High Camp on Denali in North America (6,190m) in perilous conditions that same year, marking a decade of extraordinary perseverance and achievement. This final expedition marked the end of an extraordinary quest and the start of a new legacy for Sri Lankan mountaineering.