A four-thousander is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

that is at least 4,000

metres above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

. The term is popular among European mountaineers and climbers because the highest peaks in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

fall into this category, and the summits of four-thousanders are popular in Europe as climbing goals. Although climbing these peaks does not require an expedition to be mounted (unlike the highest peaks in other continents), knowledge and experience of high altitude climbing is a pre-requisite for attempting these peaks. There is no agreement over where the boundary is between Europe and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

which is why there is a dispute over which continent the over 5,000 metres high Caucasus range is in. All other European four-thousanders are found in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. The highest four-thousander is

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

at 4,810 metres, the lowest, at exactly 4,000 metres is the eastern summit of Les Droites. The exact number of Alpine four-thousanders is unclear, because there are no commonly agreed criteria for mountains, summits and subpeaks. Officially, the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, UIAA, has declared 82 peaks as four-thousanders and 46 as four-thousander subpeaks, which are spread across three countries. In all 55 peaks lie entirely within one country, over 27 straddle a border but none is located at a

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

. By the UIAA's definition, Switzerland has 48 four-thousanders,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

has 35 and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

26.''Die Viertausender der Alpen – Offizielles UIAA-Verzeichnis''
In: UIAA-Bulletin. UIAA, Nr. 145, March 1994. (pdf; 633 kB). The four-thousanders are found mainly in the Western Alps, in the ranges of the

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

(9), Dauphiné Alps (2)

Graian Alps The Graian Alps (Latin language, Latin:: ''Alpes Graiæ'' ; ; ) are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps, and the name of an Roman province, Antic Rome province. Etymology The name ''Graie'' comes from the ''Graioceli'' Celts, Celt ...

(29) and

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...

(41). The only four-thousander in the

Eastern Alps The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...

Piz Bernina Piz Bernina (Romansh language, Romansh, , ) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It rises and is located south of Pontresina in the Bernina Region and ne ...

(4,049 m) in the Bernina Group.

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4000ers of the Alps

{{in lang, de Mountains by height Oronyms

See also

References

External links