What is Peaklist?
This website has lists of over 10,000 mountains worldwide. The website is designed to provide definitive lists of summits organized around the concept of topographic prominence. Peaklist does not attempt to list every mountain in the world; rather it introduces original and complete research in specific geographical regions, contributed by a wide number of researchers.
To get started, you should browse the main lists page with lists and maps from around the world. In particular, peaklist.org holds four large bodies of original prominence data; the Ultras project, which catalogs all 1524 worldwide summits with 1500 meters of prominence; the US P2000 project, which developed the first ever dataset of 1234 summits in the lower 48 with 2000' prominence; the California Mountain Atlas, with all 4106 summits of 500' prominence; and the Spire Measure section which develops a rigorous methodology to describe the impressiveness of a mountain. Peaklist also extensively links to other prominence-derived research being conducted around the world.
What is Prominence?
Mountain summits have long been known by their elevation above mean sea level. Now a growing community of climbers, mountain enthusiasts and mathematicians recognize that summits can also be measured by their elevation relative to the surrounding terrain. Prominence is the elevation of a summit relative to the highest point to which one must descend before reascending to a higher summit. All summits have a specific, non-arbitrary prominence. Prominence has generated considerable discussion and theory, and may be a central concept to a better understanding of the mathematical properties of the earth's surface. You can read about the underlying theory in the section titled Prominence Theory.
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| Mt. Waddington, photo: Fred Touche |
But this site is not primarily about math and earth science. Here you will find a different kind of appreciation of the natural highpoints of the world. In addition to the original lists and maps of mountains you can hopefully learn more about the growing peakbagging subculture dedicated to prominence. This website is full of new information - covering both the well-known and the completely unknown. Hopefully peaklist will leave you with a greater appreciation for the wonderous diversity of montane landforms worldwide.
This website went live on Sept. 30, 2004. Please send all comments and corrections to the webmaster. Authorship for lists and articles are on their respective pages. All other text and maps are ©2004-2011 by Aaron Maizlish unless otherwise noted. This website is for enjoyment and science only and is free to all.
