Superlatives · tallest peaks
The Highest Mountains in the World: The Great Peaks, Ranked by Elevation
11 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
Height is the one superlative a mountain can't fake. These are the great high peaks of the atlas, ordered by true elevation — a list that happens to include the highest point on five of the seven continents.
A word of honesty: this is a ranking of the atlas's high summits, not a claim to hold the literal global top ten. But it starts with the two highest mountains on Earth and takes in the roofs of the Americas, Africa, and Europe along the way. Where a summit needs mountaineering and where a viewpoint or trek will do is noted on each page.
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Mount Everest 8,849 m · highest on Earth
Mahalangur Himal, Nepal / Tibet (China) border
The highest point on the planet, on the Nepal–Tibet border — most visitors come not to summit but to trek the Khumbu to Everest Base Camp beneath it.
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Karakoram & Baltoro Glacier K2 · 8,611 m
Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan
The Baltoro Glacier leads into the heart of the Karakoram and K2, the world's second-highest and most feared peak — a serious high-altitude trekking arena.
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Aconcagua 6,961 m · highest outside Asia
Aconcagua Provincial Park, Mendoza Province, Argentina
The roof of the Americas and the highest mountain outside the Himalaya, in the Argentine Andes — a non-technical but brutally high walk-up for acclimatised climbers.
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Denali 6,190 m · highest in N. America
Alaska, USA
North America's highest peak rises further from base to summit than almost any mountain on Earth, presiding over the Alaskan wilderness.
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Mount Kilimanjaro 5,895 m · highest in Africa
Northern Tanzania
Africa's high point and the world's tallest free-standing mountain — a trekking-peak that thousands walk up each year, from rainforest to glacier in a week.
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Mount Elbrus 5,642 m · highest in Europe
Kabardino-Balkaria, Caucasus, Russia
A twin-coned dormant volcano in the Caucasus and the highest summit in Europe, snow-capped year-round.
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Mount Kenya 5,199 m
Central Kenya
Africa's second-highest peak, a glaciated equatorial mountain whose lower trekking routes are within reach of fit hikers.
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Mount Ararat 5,137 m
Iğdır Province, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey
The great snow-capped volcanic cone of eastern Turkey — two fused cones, dormant since 1840, and the highest peak in the country.
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Mont Blanc 4,806 m · highest in the Alps
French Alps (France–Italy border)
The white dome at the heart of the Alps, on the France–Italy border — the birthplace of mountaineering, ringed by cable cars and classic walks.
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The Matterhorn 4,478 m
Zermatt, Valais — Swiss/Italian border
Not the tallest, but perhaps the most recognisable — the near-perfect pyramid above Zermatt, one of the last great Alpine peaks to be climbed.
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Aoraki / Mount Cook 3,724 m · highest in NZ
Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
New Zealand's highest mountain, crowning the Southern Alps above glacier-fed valleys and dark-sky country.
Elevation isn't difficulty: some of these are technical summits for experienced mountaineers, while others offer their best views from a valley floor, a cable car, or a multi-day trek that never touches the top. Each guide is honest about which is which.
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