being rebuffed there in a first attempt. On his third attempt, Bass was guided by David Breashears to the summit of Everest on April 30, 1985, achieving the Seven Summit feat. At the time, he was also the oldest person to have climbed Everest. Wells chose to forego further attempts at Everest and died in 1994. Bass later co-wrote the book Seven Summits chronicling the achievement. The list of mountains that Bass summited became known as the "Bass List," one of two commonly accepted lists. The other, called the "Messner List," lists Carstensz Pyramid as the highest summit of Oceania, instead of Kosciuszko. Jon Krakauer's 1997 book Into Thin Air argues that Bass's ascent of Mount Everest with Breashears pulled the mountain into a "postmodern era" wherein commercial guided expeditions became big business and encouraged climbers with limited experience to pay large sums of money to these enterprises in order to ascend Everest. Personal life Bass was married three times, first to Rita Crocker. After their divorce he married Marian Martin, which also ended in divorce. He then married Alice Worsham. He had two sons, Jim and Richard Jr. (also known as Dan), and twin daughters, Bonnie Bass Smith and Barbara Bass Moroney. Death Bass died on July 26, 2015, in Dallas, Texas, from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. His funeral was held at the St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church on July 31, 2015, in Dallas. See also Lists of mountains (for other climbing lists) References External links 7Summits.com, voluminous information within commercial site Mount Everest Info One Of The Seven Summits 3D Tour of Seven Summits in Virtual Earth Essay on the criteria for the Seven Summits Carstensz Pyramid and the Seven Summits American businesspeople in the oil industry Businesspeople from Texas Ranchers from Texas 1929 births 2015 deaths American mountain climbers American summiters of Mount Everest Summiters of the Seven Summits Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma People from Dallas 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni Yale College alumni University of Texas alumni