World Top 25 by Reduced ORS

Rank	Name	ORS	RORS	Elev	Range	Country	Lat	Long	FA
1	Nanga Parbat	1740	1740	8125	Himalaya	Pakistan	35.2375	74.5892	1953
2	Dhaulagiri	1680	1680	8167	Himalaya	Nepal	28.6963	83.4954	1960
3	Rakaposhi	1628	1612	7788	Karakoram	Pakistan	36.1421	74.4904	1958
4	Machhapuchhare	1596	1532	6993	Himalaya	Nepal	28.4946	83.9488	UNCL
5	Manaslu	1550	1526	8163	Himalaya	Nepal	28.5496	84.5621	1956
6	K2	1528	1525	8611	Karakoram	Pakistan	35.8808	76.5133	1954
7	Nanda Devi	1515	1513	7816	Himalaya	India	30.3758	79.9709	1936
8	Namcha Barwa	1489	1489	7756	Himalaya	China	29.6317	95.0550	1992
9	Shisparé Sar	1489	1445	7611	Karakoram	Pakistan	36.4404	74.6813	1974
10	Masherbrum	1445	1402	7821	Karakoram	Pakistan	35.6421	76.3071	1960
11	Ganesh III (Salasungo)	1447	1401	7110	Himalaya	Nepal	28.3788	85.0571	1981
12	Makalu	1386	1378	8481	Himalaya	Nepal/China	27.8900	87.0892	1955
13	Annapurna I	1563	1378	8091	Himalaya	Nepal	28.5954	83.8221	1950
14	Gyala Peri	1474	1357	7240	Himalaya	China	29.8146	94.9704	1986
15	Saint Elias, Mount	1334	1334	5489	St. Elias	US/Canada	60.2942	-140.9264	1897
16	Haramosh	1353	1311	7397	Karakoram	Pakistan	35.8396	74.8979	1958
17	Kangchenjunga (South)	1340	1310	8476	Himalaya	Nepal/India	27.6921	88.1546	1978
18	Chamar	1396	1307	7187	Himalaya	Nepal	28.5546	84.9446	1953
19	Gauri Shankar	1321	1290	7134	Himalaya	Nepal/China	27.9658	86.3350	1979
20	Baintha Brakk (The Ogre)	1298	1285	7285	Karakoram	Pakistan	35.9479	75.7537	1977
21	Langtang Lirung	1319	1280	7234	Himalaya	Nepal	28.2554	85.5171	1978
22	Lhotse	1379	1267	8516	Himalaya	Nepal/China	27.9613	86.9346	1956
23	Gongga Shan	1243	1242	7556	Daxue Shan	China	29.5958	101.8792	1932
24	Denali	1243	1242	6194	Alaska	US	63.0697	-151.0036	1913
25	Annapurna II	1420	1218	7937	Himalaya	Nepal	28.5350	84.1242	1960

GENERAL NOTES:

In the table, ORS, RORS, and Elevation are all in meters.

This list differs somewhat from previously posted versions, as it uses the more current "angle-normalized" version of ORS.

The World Top 50 list is still in preparation. However this part of it should be fairly stable; I would be surprised to discover a new Top 25 peak.

Note that all but two peaks on the Top 25 list are in Asia, and the other two are in Alaska. (Mount Logan and Cerro Fitz Roy are not far from being on the list.)

You may wonder what happened to Mount Everest. As it turns out, Everest does not do well by RORS, as it is beaten by its (lower but steeper) neighbor Lhotse (#22). Lhotse, in turn, is reduced somewhat by Makalu, which is the winner for the Mahalangur Himal in terms of ORS and RORS. It turns out that Everest's ORS=1302 and RORS=738.

Hence, pure height is (as usual) no guarantee of a very high ORS or RORS value. However there is a correlation; and particular, you can see that eight of the 14 8000 meter peaks appear on this list. They are big peaks by ORS and RORS as well as by height.

Nanga Parbat: The Southeast ("Rupal") face of Nanga Parbat is well-known as "the largest mountain face in the world." While this kind of statement is hard to make precise, it is a large part of the reason that Nanga Parbat is the World #1 by ORS. On the north side, Nanga Parbat drops, less steeply, to the Indus River, at an elevation of only 1000m, making for tremendous vertical relief.

Dhaulagiri too has an immense South Face (recently climbed, though not to the summit, in a spectacular solo by Tomaz Humar). It also sits over very low terrain to the south and east, in particular the Kali Gandaki valley, one of the world's great mountain gorges.

Rakaposhi sits inside a bend of the Hunza River, another great mountain gorge. It is the most famous peak of the Western Karakoram.

Machhapuchhare is the lowest Himalayan peak on this list. However, it is a tremendously steep rocky peak, rising from a very low base on the south flank of the Annapurna massif. Machhapuchhare is the "fishtail" peak one often sees in posters of the Himalaya. It is quite sacred to the local population, and in fact it is off-limits to climbers. This is the first peak on the list with a significant reduction, in this case by nearby Dhaulagiri.

Manaslu, one of the lesser-known 8000m peaks, sits, like Dhaulagiri, near a lot of low terrain. It drops steeply down on the east and west to low valleys, making it a truly massive peak.

K2 needs little introduction, as it is probably one of the two most famous peaks on this list. Despite being well inside the core of the Karakoram, away from low terrain, K2 makes this list due to its steep, pointy shape and great absolute elevation. K2 is almost one of the perfect cones used to normalize ORS: it is basically a 3000m, 45 degree cone, and hence gets an ORS value around 1500m.

Nanda Devi is the highest point in India outside of Sikkim, and is another high, steep peak which sits near low terrain. Climbing Nanda Devi has been off limits to almost everyone for a quarter century, to preserve the surrounding Nanda Devi Sanctuary, which was threatened with ecological disaster in the 1970's.

Namcha Barwa is the eastern anchor of the Himalaya. It sits inside the "Great Bend" of the Tsangpo/Brahmaputra river, which flows from Tibet into India. Like many of the other peaks on this list, the combination of great height, reasonable steepness, and a very low "base" gives this peak its world-class ORS.

Shisparé Sar is probably the least well-known of the Top 10. It sits across the Hunza River valley from Rakaposhi, and is the eastern anchor of the Batura Range, the westernmost section of the Karakoram. Like Rakaposhi, it gets its ORS by rising quickly from the very low Hunza River gorge. Being fairly close to Rakaposhi, it gets a significant reduction in RORS from that peak.

Masherbrum is a steep, striking peak which rises south of the Baltoro glacier, on the way in to K2.

Ganesh III is the winner in the Ganesh Himal in terms of ORS. The Ganesh Himal lies to the east of Manaslu. Ganesh is the Hindu god of wisdom, usually depicted with the head of an elephant. Ganesh III beats its somewhat higher neighbors by being closer to the valley, and a little pointier.

Makalu is one of the giants of the Mahalangur Himal, which also includes Everest, Lhotse, and Cho Oyu. Of those four 8000m peaks, it has the highest ORS, since it has a couple of very steep faces, and sits closer to lower terrain. It is also probably the hardest to climb of those four peaks.

Annapurna I is the highest peak in the Annapurna massif. Like Dhaulagiri, it rises quickly from very low terrain to the south, giving it a very high pure ORS. However it is just across the valley from Dhaulagiri, so in terms of reduced ORS, it is not as independent as its neighboring peak Machhapuchhare, which takes the RORS prize in the Annapurna Himal. Annapurna I was the first 8000m peak to be climbed, in 1950, but it tends to be a dangerous peak, with many objective hazards on the standard route.

Gyala Peri faces Namcha Barwa across the gorge of the Tsangpo river. It is the only other 7000m peak in the extreme east of the Himalaya, and it gets a high ORS for the same reasons Namcha Barwa does. Note that its RORS is substantially reduced by its neighbor.

Mount Saint Elias is the best peak, by ORS, outside of the Himalaya/Karakoram. It is fairly well-known as "the world's highest tidewater peak." It rises to almost 5500m in 10km from Icy Bay, in the bight of the Gulf of Alaska. It forms the corner of the Alaska/Yukon border, where the Alaskan panhandle joins the main part of the state. While it is lower than either Denali or Logan, it is pointier and has a lower base, so it beats both of them.

Haramosh rises dramatically above the Indus river valley on the southern edge of the western Karakoram. It does not have the fame of its neighbor Rakaposhi or of the 8000m peaks, but it is a huge mountain.

Kangchenjunga South is the best point in the Kangchenjunga massif in terms of ORS. Kangchenjunga is the third highest peak in the world, and is one of the more difficult 8000m peaks.

Chamar is one of the least well-known peaks on this list. It is the high point of the Sringi Himal, between Manaslu and the Ganesh Himal. It has tremendous drops to the valleys in three directions, but it has seen little climbing activity.

Gauri Shankar is one of the most famous and sacred peaks of Nepal. It was also the scene of one of the hardest first ascents done in the Himalaya, in 1979.

Baintha Brakk has been suggested as the single hardest peak in the world. It is a daunting rock spire, deep in the heart of the Karakoram. It has seen only two ascents, despite many attempts. It attains its high ORS by virtue of its tremendous steepness, despite a fairly high base.

Langtang Lirung is the high point of the Langtang Himal, southwest of Shisha Pangma. It rises dramatically from the low nearby valleys.

Lhotse is Everest's south outlier. However, in terms of ORS, it is Lhotse which takes the crown for the Everest/Lhotse massif (by 6%). This is due to Lhotse's famous, immense South Face, which for many years was one of the great unclimbed walls of the world.

Gongga Shan (Minya Konka) is a wonderful peak for many reasons. It is the easternmost 7000m peak in Asia, and it rises steeply from the dramatic low gorges of Sichuan. Its profile is a classic snow pyramid. Perhaps most intriguing is the story of its ascent in 1932 by a small team of four Americans, which was a stunning achievement for the time, done in fine style. The story is told in the book "Men Against the Clouds."

Denali (Mt. McKinley) is one of the best-known peaks on this list, as the North American high point, and the number 3 peak by prominence in the world. It is famous for rising from low terrain (under 1000m), and its South Face is relatively steep. It would have a somewhat higher ORS if it were pointier; instead it has two separate summits, separated by some distance. Hence the ORS of the south (main) summit cannot take full advantage of the huge Wickersham Wall which forms the north side of the mountain.

Annapurna II is the eastern anchor of the Annapurna Himal, and towers over its nearby valleys much as Annapurna I does. It is one of the highest independent 7000m peaks. Note that it is reduced quite significantly by the presence of three other great nearby peaks: Manaslu, Machhapuchhare, and Annapurna I.

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