In other news,

the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe has been sending back some stunning pictures of the Red Planet, but nothing like its images of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System (towering more than 10 miles above Martian "sea level", twice the size of Mount Everest):

This is a view from the top of the volcano, its so-called "caldera", which is formed when the hollow magma chamber beneath the mountaintop collapses. The cliffs you are looking at are over a mile high! I can't imagine what it would be like to hike up the slopes of this monster. Sure, you'd need a bottle of oxygen or two and a pressure suit, but I'll bet that fifty years from now climbing Olympus Mons will have replaced going up Everest or skiing in Antarctica (or even golfing on the Moon) as the ultimate in extreme outdoorsmanship. So I'd had better try to stay in shape!