“Alaska has 39 mountain ranges that include 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States.”
National Geographic Kids, 5,000 Awesome facts, 2015
Every now and then I feel I have to divulge why I am doing this. I had acquired this book from The Little Free library in the neighborhood when I was out walking Charley and found it very interesting, but I wanted to find more about some of the facts because some didn't seem plausible, and others were just really cool. It is a 2015 edition so I decided to do a little fact check and research to see if anything is different in the year 2023. I am planning to go through the whole 5,000 facts and write a little summary, and probably by the time I get done it will be time to start all over again. Ha-ha. But it has turned out to be an intriguing adventure, and I enjoy writing what I've discovered. I'm learning a lot as well.
This particular fact is pretty cut and dry, so I just decided to write about what exactly makes a highest peak a highest peak.
The highest peak is called the summit. A summit is defined as the top, or Apex of a mountain where it is at least 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) 878 stories of a building, and has the topographic elevation of at least 500 meters (1640 ft) of topographic prominence.
A mountain is measured in three main ways;
The topographic elevation is the measure of the height of the tip of a mountain above a geodetic sea level .
The topographic prominence of a summit is a measure of how high the summit rises above its surroundings.
The topographic isolation (or radius of dominance) of a summit measures how far the summit lies from its nearest point of equal elevation.
I did a cut and past from the Wikipedia dictionary because I really couldn’t explain it any other way.
Here is a list of some of the highest summits;
1 Denali [1] [2] [f] Alaska Alaska Range 20,310 ft 20,146 ft 7,450.24 63.0690°N 151.0063°W 2 Mount Saint Elias [3] [4] [g] Alaska Yukon Saint Elias Mountains 18,009 ft 11,250 ft 25.6 mi 60.2927°N 140.9307°W 3 Mount Foraker [5] [6] [h] Alaska Alaska Range 17,400 ft 7,250 ft 14.27 mi 62.9604°N 151.3998°W 4 Mount Bona [7] [8] [i] Alaska Saint Elias Mountains 16,550 ft 6,900 ft 49.7 mi 61.3856°N 141.7495°W 5 Mount Blackburn [9] [10] [11] [j] Alaska Wrangell Mountains 16,390 ft 11,640 ft 60.7 mi 61.7305°N 143.4031°W 6 Mount Sanford [12] [13] Alaska Wrangell Mountains 16,237 ft 7,687 ft 40.3 mi 62.2132°N 144.1292°W 7 Mount Fairweather [14] [15] [k] Fairweather Mountain )Alaska British Columbia Saint Elias Mountains 15,325 ft 12,995 ft 124.4 mi 58.9064°N 137.5265°W 8 Mount Hubbard [16] [17] Alaska Yukon Saint Elias Mountains 14,951 ft 8,061 ft 21.3 mi 60.3194°N 139.0726°W 9 Mount Bear [18] [19] Alaska Saint Elias Mountains 14,831 ft 5,054 ft 20.1 mi 61.2834°N 141.1433°W 10 Mount Hunter [20] [21] Alaska Alaska Range 14,573 ft 4,653 ft 6.88 mi 62.9504°N 151.0915°W 11 Mount Whitney [22] [23] [24] [l] [m] California Sierra Nevada 14,505 ft 10,080 ft 2,649.47 36.5786°N 118.2920°W 12 Mount Alverstone [25] [26] [27] Boundary Point 180 )Alaska Yukon Saint Elias Mountains 14,500 ft 1,950 ft 2.25 mi 60.3518°N 139.0749°W 13 University Peak [28] [29] Alaska Saint Elias Mountains 14,470 ft 3,210 ft 3.71 mi 61.3272°N 141.7867°W 14 Mount Elbert [30] [31] [32] [n] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,440 ft 9,093 ft 1,079.15 39.1178°N 106.4454°W 15 Mount Massive [33] [34] [35] [o] [p] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,428 ft 1,961 ft 5.06 mi 39.1875°N 106.4757°W 16 Mount Harvard [36] [37] [38] [q] [r] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,421 ft 2,360 ft 14.92 mi 38.9244°N 106.3207°W 17 Mount Rainier [39] [40] [s] [t] Washington Cascade Range 14,417 ft 13,210 ft 731 mi 46.8529°N 121.7604°W 18 Mount Williamson [41] [42] [u] California Sierra Nevada 14,379 ft 1,676 ft 5.41 mi 36.6559°N 118.3111°W 19 Blanca Peak [43] [44] [v] [w] [x] Colorado Sangre de Cristo Mountains 14,351 ft 5,326 ft 103.4 mi 37.5775°N 105.4856°W 20 La Plata Peak [45] [46] [y] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,343 ft 1,836 ft 6.28 mi 39.0294°N 106.4729°W 21 Uncompahgre Peak [47] [48] [49] [z] [aa] Colorado San Juan Mountains 14,321 ft 4,277 ft 85 mi 38.0717°N 107.4621°W 22 Crestone Peak [50] [51] [ab] [ac] Colorado Sangre de Cristo Range 14,300 ft 4,554 ft 27.4 mi 37.9669°N 105.5855°W 23 Mount Lincoln [52] [53] [54] [ad] [ae] Colorado Mosquito Range 14,293 ft 3,862 ft 22.5 mi 39.3515°N 106.1116°W 24 Castle Peak [55] [56] [57] [af] Colorado Elk Mountains 14,279 ft 2,365 ft 20.9 mi 39.0097°N 106.8614°W 25 Grays Peak [58] [59] [60] [ag] [ah] Colorado Front Range 14,278 ft 2,770 ft 25 mi 39.6339°N 105.8176°W 26 Mount Antero [61] [62] [63] [ai] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,276 ft 2,503 ft 17.67 mi 38.6741°N 106.2462°W 27 Mount Evans [64] [65] [66] [aj] Colorado Front Range 14,271 ft 2,770 ft 9.79 mi 39.5883°N 105.6438°W 28 Longs Peak [67] [68] [69] [ak] [al] Colorado Front Range 14,259 ft 2,940 ft 43.6 mi 40.2550°N 105.6151°W 29 Mount Wilson [70] [71] [am] [an] [ao] Colorado San Miguel Mountains 14,252 ft 4,024 ft 33 mi 37.8391°N 107.9916°W 30 White Mountain Peak [72] [73] [74] [ap] California White Mountains 14,252 ft 7,196 ft 67.4 mi 37.6341°N 118.2557°W 31 North Palisade [75] [76] [77] [aq] [ar] California Sierra Nevada 14,248 ft 2,894 ft 32.2 mi 37.0943°N 118.5145°W 32 Mount Princeton [78] [79] [80] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,204 ft 2,177 ft 5.19 mi 38.7492°N 106.2424°W 33 Mount Yale [81] [82] [83] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,200 ft 1,896 ft 5.55 mi 38.8442°N 106.3138°W 34 Mount Shasta [84] [85] [86] [as] California Cascade Range 14,179 ft 9,772 ft 335 mi 41.4092°N 122.1949°W 35 Maroon Peak [87] [88] [89] Colorado Elk Mountains 14,163 ft 2,336 ft 8.06 mi 39.0708°N 106.9890°W 36 Mount Wrangell [90] [91] Alaska Wrangell Mountains 14,163 ft 5,613 ft 14.79 mi 62.0059°N 144.0187°W 37 Mount Sneffels [92] [93] [94] [at] Colorado Sneffels Range 14,158 ft 3,050 ft 15.71 mi 38.0038°N 107.7923°W 38 Capitol Peak [95] [96] [97] [au] Colorado Elk Mountains 14,137 ft 1,750 ft 7.44 mi 39.1503°N 107.0829°W 39 Pikes Peak [98] [99] [100] [av] Colorado Front Range 14,115 ft 5,530 ft 60.6 mi 38.8405°N 105.0442°W 40 Windom Peak [101] [102] [aw] [ax] [ay] Colorado Needle Mountains 14,093 ft 2,187 ft 26.3 mi 37.6212°N 107.5919°W 41 Mount Augusta [103] [104] Alaska Yukon Saint Elias Mountains 14,070 ft 5,082 ft 14.41 mi 60.3074°N 140.4584°W 42 Handies Peak [105] [106] [107] Colorado San Juan Mountains 14,058 ft 1,908 ft 11.18 mi 37.9130°N 107.5044°W 43 Culebra Peak [108] [109] [az] [ba] [bb] Colorado Culebra Range 14,053 ft 4,827 ft 35.4 mi 37.1224°N 105.1858°W 44 San Luis Peak [110] [111] [112] [bc] Colorado La Garita Mountains 14,022 ft 3,113 ft 26.9 mi 37.9868°N 106.9313°W 45 Mount of the Holy Cross [113] [114] [115] [bd] [be] Colorado Sawatch Range 14,011 ft 2,113 ft 18.41 mi 39.4668°N 106.4817°W 46 Sunshine Peak [116] [117] [bf] Colorado San Juan Mountains 14,007 ft 501 ft 1.27 mi 37.9228°N 107.4256°W 46 Grizzly Peak [118] [119] [120] Colorado Sawatch Range 13,995 ft 1,928 ft 6.77 mi 39.0425°N 106.5976°W 47 Mount Humphreys [121] [122] [123] [bg] California Sierra Nevada 13,992 ft 2,563 ft 14.71 mi 37.2705°N 118.6730°W 48 Mount Keith [124] [125] [126] [bh] California Sierra Nevada 13,982 ft 1,936 ft 3.09 mi 36.7001°N 118.3436°W 49 Mount Ouray [127] [128] [129] [bi] Colorado Sawatch Range 13,961 ft 2,659 ft 13.58 mi 38.4227°N 106.2247°W 50 Vermilion Peak [130] [131] [bj] Colorado San Juan Mountains 13,900 ft 2,105 ft 9.07 mi 37.7993°N 107.8285°W 51 Atna Peaks [132] [133] Alaska Wrangell Mountains 13,860 ft 2,210 ft 3.64 mi 61.7495°N 143.2414°W 52 Regal Mountain [134] [135] [136] Alaska Wrangell Mountains 13,845 ft 4,395 ft 12.25 mi 61.7438°N 142.8675°W 53 Mount Darwin [137] [138] [139] [bk] California Sierra Nevada 13,837 ft 1,891 ft 7.13 mi 37.1669°N 118.6721°W 54 Mount Hayes [140] [141] [bl] [bm] Alaska Alaska Range 13,832 ft 11,507 ft 125.5 mi 63.6203°N 146.7178°W 55 Mount Silverheels [142] [143] [144] Colorado Front Range 13,829 ft 2,283 ft 5.48 mi 39.3394°N 106.0054°W 56 Rio Grande Pyramid [145] [146] [147] Colorado San Juan Mountains 13,827 ft 1,881 ft 10.76 mi 37.6797°N 107.3924°W 57 Gannett Peak [148] [149] [150] [bn] [bo] Wyoming Wind River Range 13,809 ft 7,076 ft 290 mi 43.1842°N 109.6542°W 58 Mount Kaweah [151] [152] [bp] [bq] [br] California Sierra Nevada 13,807 ft 2,027 ft 10.73 mi 36.5261°N 118.4785°W 59 Mauna Kea [153] [154] [155] [bs] [bt] Hawaiʻi Island of Hawaiʻi 13,803 ft 13,803 ft 3,947.00 19.8207°N 155.4681°W 60 Grand Teton [156] [157] [158] [bu] [bv] Wyoming Teton Range 13,775 ft 6,545 ft 69.4 mi 43.7412°N 110.8024°W 61 Mount Cook [159] [160] Alaska Yukon Saint Elias Mountains 13,760 ft 7,710 ft 14.54 mi 60.1816°N 139.9811°W 62 Mount Morgan [161] [162] [163] California Sierra Nevada 13,758 ft 2,648 ft 9.86 mi 37.4053°N 118.7329°W 63 Freemont Peak [bw] [bx] [164] [165] Wyoming Wind River Range 13,750 ft 43.1247°N 109.6179°W 64 Mount Gabb [166] [167] [by] California Sierra Nevada 13,747 ft 2,601 ft 4.28 mi 37.3769°N 118.8025°W 65 Bald Mountain [168] [169] [bz] Colorado Front Range 13,690 ft 2,099 ft 7.51 mi 39.4448°N 105.9705°W 66 Mount Oso [170] [171] [ca] Colorado San Juan Mountains 13,690 ft 1,664 ft 5.41 mi 37.6070°N 107.4936°W 67 Mauna Loa [172] [173] [cb] [cc] Hawaiʻi Island of Hawaiʻi 13,679 ft 7,099 ft 25.4 mi 19.4756°N 155.6054°W 68 Mount Jackson [174] [175] [176] Colorado Sawatch Range 13,676 ft 1,810 ft 3.21 mi 39.4853°N 106.5367°W 69 Mount Tom [177] [178] [179] [cd] California Sierra Nevada 13,657 ft 1,992 ft 4.77 mi 37.3762°N 119.1789°W 70 Bard Peak [180] [181] [ce] Colorado Front Range 13,647 ft 1,701 ft 5.43 mi 39.7204°N 105.8044°W 71 West Spanish Peak [182] [183] [cf] [cg] Colorado Spanish Peaks 13,631 ft 3,686 ft 19.87 mi 37.3756°N 104.9934°W 72
This fact is still the same as it was in 2015.
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CHARLEY WAFFLE 