Mountain
The world's most famous mountains
24 places, each with its own page: where it is, how it came to be and what makes it special.
- Mount Everest 8 849 m Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, towering 8,848.86 metres above sea level in the Himalayas.
- K2 8 611 m K2 is the world's second-highest mountain, rising 8,611 metres in the Karakoram range on the border of Pakistan and China.
- Kangchenjunga 8 586 m Kangchenjunga is the world's third-highest mountain at 8,586 metres, sitting on the border of Nepal and India.
- Aconcagua 6 961 m Aconcagua is the highest mountain in South America and outside all of Asia, standing about 6,961 metres tall in the Argentine Andes.
- Denali 6 190 m Denali is North America's highest mountain, rising 6,190 metres above the wild Alaskan wilderness.
- Cotopaxi 5 897 m Cotopaxi is one of the world's tallest active volcanoes, a near-perfect snow-capped cone rising 5,897 metres in Ecuador.
- Mount Kilimanjaro 5 895 m Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa's tallest mountain, a huge volcano rising 5,895 metres straight out of the Tanzanian plains.
- Mount Elbrus 5 642 m Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Europe, a snowy double-peaked volcano rising 5,642 metres in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia.
- Popocatépetl 5 393 m Popocatépetl is a smoking volcano near Mexico City, standing 5,393 metres tall.
- Vinson Massif 4 892 m Vinson Massif is the highest mountain in Antarctica, rising 4,892 metres above the frozen continent's icy interior.
- Puncak Jaya 4 884 m Puncak Jaya, also called Carstensz Pyramid, is the highest mountain in Oceania, rising 4,884 metres on the island of New Guinea.
- Mont Blanc 4 808 m Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps, standing about 4,808 metres tall on the border of France and Italy.
- Matterhorn 4 478 m The Matterhorn is a sharp, pyramid-shaped peak in the Swiss Alps, standing 4,478 metres tall on the border with Italy.
- Mauna Kea 4 207 m Mauna Kea is a giant shield volcano on Hawai'i's Big Island, rising 4,207 metres above the sea.
- Eiger 3 967 m The Eiger is a dramatic mountain in the Swiss Alps, standing 3,967 metres tall.
- Mount Fuji 3 776 m Mount Fuji is Japan's tallest mountain and its most sacred symbol, a near-perfect volcanic cone rising 3,776 metres near Tokyo.
- Mount Etna 3 403 m Mount Etna is Europe's tallest and most active volcano, rising about 3,403 metres on the island of Sicily, Italy.
- Mount Olympus 2 918 m Mount Olympus is Greece's highest mountain, reaching 2,918 metres at its jagged summit called Mytikas.
- Half Dome 2 696 m Half Dome is a giant granite rock in Yosemite National Park, USA, rising 2,696 metres tall.
- Mount St. Helens 2 549 m Mount St.
- Mount Kosciuszko 2 228 m Mount Kosciuszko is mainland Australia's highest peak, standing 2,228 metres tall in the Snowy Mountains.
- Ben Nevis 1 345 m Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles, rising 1,345 metres in the Scottish Highlands.
- Table Mountain 1 085 m Table Mountain is a famous flat-topped mountain overlooking Cape Town, South Africa, rising about 1,085 metres.
- Uluru 863 m Uluru is a giant, red sandstone rock rising 348 metres straight out of the flat Australian desert, all on its own.
How these mountains were chosen
There are far more than twenty-four mountains worth knowing, so this is not a ranking of the highest — it is a spread. The tallest are here, but so is the one shaped like a tooth that everybody recognises, the one that is a volcano still capable of erupting, the flat-topped one standing alone above a desert, and the one that is the tallest on Earth if you start measuring at its base on the sea floor rather than at the water's surface.
Every height on these pages is measured from sea level to the summit, and where three surveys disagree by a few metres, the page says so instead of picking one quietly. Each mountain also stands on the globe with a shape that matches what it actually is — a sharp horn, a long ridge, a volcanic cone, a broad shield — rather than the same grey triangle repeated.
Every one of them stands on the globe
These pages are not only a list: every entry here has a place on the spinning globe, at its real coordinates. From far away the planet is a plain blue ball — detail only arrives as you zoom in, and then each of these is standing exactly where it belongs.
It works the other way round too: whatever you click on the globe opens its page, and every page links back to that exact spot on the globe. You can wander from a map into a text and back again without ever using the search box.