Mountaineering / Summits in December

Rinjani is the trek that turns beach-trip Indonesia into an expedition: two to four days climbing through farmland, cloud forest, and volcanic scree to a crater rim camp above Segara Anak, the turquoise lake with a smoking young volcano growing inside it, then a pre-dawn push up loose ash to the 3,726-meter summit for sunrise over Bali, the Gilis, and Sumbawa. The route is non-technical but honestly hard, the summit scree famously takes two steps back per three forward, and the licensed-operator system out of Senaru and Sembalun supplies guides, porters, camps, and meals so the suffering stays the enjoyable kind. It is Southeast Asia's best big-mountain experience without ropes.

Villarrica is real mountaineering compressed into one guided day: 1,600 meters of ascent on snow, scree, and glacier with crampons and ice axe, ending at the rim of an active crater that often holds a visible lava lake, gas masks issued at the trailhead. Few places on earth put a beginner on a glaciated, breathing volcano with this little logistics, and Pucon below has the deep guide bench, including UIAGM-certified operators, to do it properly. The volcano chain behind it, Quetrupillan, Lanin, Llaima, extends the trip for those who want more summits, and in winter the same mountain becomes a ski-mountaineering objective.

Tajumulco is the roof of Central America. At 4,220 meters it is the highest point between Mexico and Colombia, and reaching it is a walk rather than a climb, which makes the highest summit in the region attainable for a fit hiker with no technical skills. The standard trip is done over two days from Quetzaltenango, hiking up through pine forest and open paramo to a high camp, then rising in the dark for the final push to stand on the crater rim as the sun comes up. On a clear morning the view runs across the whole volcanic chain, with the cones of the Guatemalan and Mexican highlands rising out of the cloud and the shadow of Tajumulco thrown across the land to the west. The altitude is the real challenge, so it works best after a few days acclimatising in the highlands around Xela.

Ecuador is where a fit hiker becomes a mountaineer on real glaciers without expedition logistics. The Avenue of the Volcanoes stacks an acclimatization ladder, Ilinizas, Cayambe, Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, into about two weeks, with mountain huts replacing tents on every peak. Cotopaxi is a near-perfect glaciated cone climbed hut-to-summit in two days; Chimborazo's 6,263-meter summit is, thanks to the equatorial bulge, the farthest point from the center of the earth, a first 6,000er with a genuine claim to a world record. ASEGUIM, the national guide association, has been an IFMGA member since 2016, so the guiding standard is internationally certified.

Orizaba is the best first 5,000-meter-plus summit in the Americas: 5,636 meters, the highest peak in Mexico and third-highest in North America, with the Jamapa Glacier delivering a genuine crampon-and-rope climb above a hut you can drive to at 4,260 meters. The classic itinerary acclimatizes across Mexico's volcano trilogy, La Malinche and Iztaccihuatl first, then the summit push, all in six to nine days at a cost no Andean or Alaskan equivalent approaches. Local operations in the base town of Tlachichuca handle permits, 4x4s, and gear, and AMGA-accredited international outfitters run the same mountain for those who want the full-service version.

When the falls freeze, Kandersteg has no rival in Europe. The valley concentrates an extraordinary density of frozen waterfalls, from gentle beginner flows in the Oeschinen area to the multi-pitch testpieces of Breitwangflue, most of them reachable in minutes rather than hours, which is why the continent's ice climbers treat the village as their winter capital. Guided taster days put complete beginners on vertical ice with tools and crampons the same morning, and the progression to leading and multi-pitch routes can happen across a single season of visits. The village itself stays calm and car-light in winter, all frozen lake walks and wood smoke, the opposite of a ski-circus resort.

Aconcagua is the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere at 6,961m. The Normal Route involves no technical climbing: no ropes, no crampons on the standard ascent, no glacier travel. What it requires is 18-21 days for proper acclimatization and the physical and mental discipline to manage a serious high-altitude expedition. Base camp at Plaza de Mulas (4,370m) is well-established with medical support, a rescue service, and multiple camps on the route. Mendoza is one of South America's best cities, with world-class wine, food, and a relaxed Andean energy that makes the approach days and recovery week genuinely good.

Ojos del Salado is the highest volcano on earth and the second-highest summit in the Americas, and the Atacama's hyper-arid climate gives it something no 6,900-meter peak elsewhere can offer: unusually reliable summit windows. The route is non-technical but the altitude is entirely real, and the acclimatization circuit across the Atacama's 5,000 and 6,000-meter peaks, Siete Hermanas, San Francisco, is a world-class high-desert expedition in its own right. Vehicle access reaches refugios near 5,200 meters, the highest drive-to-base approach anywhere, which is why altitude record attempts of every kind gravitate here.

The Rwenzori are Africa's strangest big mountains: a snowbound, glaciated range sitting almost on the equator, the Mountains of the Moon that ancient geographers guessed fed the Nile. Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley, at 5,109 meters, is the third-highest point in Africa and a genuine glacier summit, reached across a shrinking ice cap that demands rope, crampons and an ice axe. The multi-day approach climbs through a surreal sequence of vegetation zones, from montane forest to bamboo to open moorland studded with giant lobelia and groundsel, and across notorious deep bog. Two Uganda Wildlife Authority concessionaires run the mountain: Rwenzori Mountaineering Services on the Central Circuit from Nyakalengija, and Rwenzori Trekking Services on the southern Kilembe Trail.

Aoraki is New Zealand's highest peak at 3,724 meters and the mountain Edmund Hillary trained on before Everest, a serious glaciated ascent whose grade belies its modest altitude: heavily crevassed approaches, objective hazard, and Southern Alps weather that manufactures its own storms. The guiding tradition matches the mountain. Alpine Guides, the country's oldest guiding company, has been based inside the park since 1966, and Alpine Recreation runs guided ascents and instruction from Lake Tekapo; both carry IFMGA and NZMGA credentials, and both will tell you honestly whether you belong on the summit route or on a skills course first. The village sits entirely within the national park, which makes the approach logistics the easiest part.