What is Peaklist?
This website has lists of over 10,000 mountains worldwide. Thewebsite is designed to provide definitive lists of summits organizedaround the concept of topographic prominence. Peaklist doesnot attempt to list every mountain in the world; rather it introducesoriginal and complete research in specific geographical regions,contributed by a wide number of researchers.
To get started, you should browse the mainlistspage with lists and maps from around the world. Inparticular, peaklist.org holds four large bodies of originalprominence data; theUltras project, whichcatalogs all 1524 worldwide summits with 1500 meters of prominence; theUS P2000 project, which developedthe first ever dataset of 1234 summits in the lower 48 with 2000'prominence; the California MountainAtlas,with all 4106 summits of500' prominence; and theSpireMeasure section which develops a rigorous methodology to describetheimpressiveness of a mountain. Peaklist also extensively links toother prominence-derived research being conducted around the world.
What is Prominence?
Mountain summits have long been known by their elevation above mean sealevel. Now a growing community of climbers, mountain enthusiastsand mathematicians recognize that summits can also be measured bytheir elevation relative to the surrounding terrain. Prominenceis the elevation of a summit relative to thehighest point to which one must descend before reascending toa higher summit. All summits have a specific, non-arbitraryprominence. Prominencehas generated considerable discussion and theory, and may be a centralconcept to a better understanding of the mathematicalproperties of the earth's surface. You can read about theunderlying theory in the section titledProminenceTheory.
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| Mt. Waddington, photo: Fred Touche |
But this site is notprimarily about math and earth science. Here you will find adifferent kind of appreciationof thenatural highpoints of the world. In addition to the originallists and maps ofmountains you can hopefully learn more about the growing peakbaggingsubculturededicated to prominence. This website is full of new information- covering both the well-known and the completely unknown. Hopefullypeaklist will leave you with agreater appreciation for the wonderous diversity of montane landformsworldwide.
Thiswebsite went live on Sept. 30,2004. Please send all comments and corrections to thewebmaster. Authorshipfor lists and articles are on their respectivepages. Allother text and maps are ©2004-2011 by Aaron Maizlishunless otherwise noted. This website is for enjoyment and scienceonly and is freeto all.
