Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica located about 1,200 km, only 1 degree from the South Pole. The mountain is about 21 km long and 13 km wide therefore is known as a Massif. The southern end of the massif is capped by Mount Craddock (4,650 m).
It is in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, which stand near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The massif's existence was unsuspected until 1957, when it was spotted by US Navy aircraft. It was named after Carl Vinson, a United States Georgia Congressman who was a key supporter of funding for Antarctic research.
 In 1963 the ‘American Alpine Club’ requested the ‘National Science Foundation’ to fund an expedition to climb Vinson. They went on to organize the ‘American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition’ who managed to get four climbers to the summit on December 18th 1966.

Climbing Vinson is not technically difficult, though climbers must bare the freezing Antarctic temperatures and strong winds. The Vinson Massif is counted as Antarctica’s highest Mountain, so one of the Seven Summits.