An ultra-prominent peak, or ultra for short, is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

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 ...

with a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of or more; it is also called a P1500. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. There are approximately 1,500 such peaks on Earth. Some well-known peaks, such as the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

and

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends ...

, are not ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

s and thus do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term "ultra" originated with earth scientist Steve Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in the 1980s. His original term was "ultra major mountain", referring to peaks with at least of prominence.

Distribution

Currently, over 1,500 ultras have been identified above sea level: 654 in

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 ...

, 357 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, 209 in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, 119 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 ...

(including 12 in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

), 84 in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, 54 in

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, and 39 in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. Many of the world's largest mountains are ultras, including

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

, K2,

Kanchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

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 ...

, and

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

. On the other hand, others such as the

and the

are not ultras. Many ultras lie in rarely visited and inhospitable parts of the world, including 39 in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, the high points of the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

islands of

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norway, Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: la ...

and

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, and many of the peaks of the

Greater ranges The Roof of the World or Top of the World is a metaphoric epithet or phrase used to describe the highest region in the world, also known as High Asia. The term usually refers to the mountainous interior of Asia, including the Pamirs, the Himalay ...

of Asia. In

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names. Thirteen of the fourteen 8,000-metre summits are ultras (the exception being

Lhotse Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...

), and there are a further 64 ultras over in height. There are 90 ultras with a prominence of over , but only 22 with more than prominence. A number of ultras have yet to be climbed, with

Sauyr Zhotasy Sauyr Zhotasy (, ''Sauyr jotasy''), also known as Muz Tau (), at 3,840 m is the highest point in the Saur Range and of the entire Saur- Tarbagatai mountain system, part of the Tien Shan, on the border between Kazakhstan and China. It lies south ...

, (possibly)

Mount Siple Mount Siple ( ) is a potentially active Antarctic shield volcano, rising to and dominating the northwest part of Siple Island, which is separated from the Bakutis Coast, Marie Byrd Land, by the Getz Ice Shelf. Its youthful appearance strong ...

, and

Gangkar Puensum Gangkhar Puensum (, alternatively, Gangkar Punsum or Gankar Punzum) is the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, with an elevation of and a prominence of . In Dzongkha language, its name means "White Peak of ...

being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. (See footnotes 3 and 10.) All of the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven. In January 2023, ''Climbing (magazine), Climbing'' said "Today, t ...

are ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the high points of large landmasses. Each has its

key col In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

at or near sea level, resulting in a prominence value almost equal to its elevation.

Lists of ultras (1,516 total)

General

List of islands by highest point This is a list of islands in the world ordered by their highest point; it lists island, islands with peaks by elevation. At the end of this article continent, continental landmasses are also included for comparison. Island countries and territor ...

, 115 of which are ultras. *

List of mountain peaks by prominence This is a list of mountain peaks ordered by their topographic prominence. Terminology The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. The low ...

gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide.

Africa (84)

* List of ultras of Africa (84)

Antarctica (41)

List of ultras of Antarctica This is a list of all the ultra prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Antarctica. Some islands in the South Atlantic have also been included and can be found at the end of the list. Antarctica South At ...

, including South Atlantic islands (41)

Asia (635)

* List of ultras of Central Asia (75) *

List of ultras of Japan This is a list of all the ultra-prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Japan. See also *List of mountains in Japan Sources ListMap
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Ultras Of Japan Lists of mountains by prominenc ...

(21) *

List of ultras of Northeast Asia This is a list of all the ultra prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Northeast Asia. There are 53 in total. Lake Baikal, Baikal to Okhotsk Eastern Siberia Kamchatka Kuril Islands Korea and Manch ...

(51) * List of ultras of Southeast Asia (42) *

List of ultras of the Himalayas A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

, including Sino-Nepal Provinces (76) * List of ultras of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush (61) *

List of ultras of the Malay Archipelago This is a list of ultra prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in the Malay Archipelago, a group of over 25,000 islands which includes Brunei, Singapore, East Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor. How ...

(91, including 12 in

) * List of ultras of the Philippines (29) * List of ultras of Tibet, East Asia and neighbouring areas, including India (112) * List of ultras of West Asia (88)

Europe (120)

List of European ultra-prominent peaks This is a list of all the mountains in Europe with ultra-prominent peaks with topographic prominence greater than . European peaks by prominence The column "Col" in the chart below denotes the highest elevation to which one must descend from a p ...

(120) **

List of Alpine peaks by prominence This is a list of the mountains of the Alps, ordered by their topographic prominence. For a list by height, see the list of mountains of the Alps. By descending to 1,500 m of prominence, this list includes all the Ultras of the Alps. Some famous p ...

(44)

North America (356)

List of ultras of North America The following sortable tables comprise the most topographically prominent mountain peaks of greater North America. Each of these 353 summits has at least of topographic prominence. This article defines greater North America as the portion ...

(356) **

List of the most prominent summits of Canada The following sortable table comprises the 150 most topographically prominent mountain peaks of Canada. The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal ways: #The topographic elevation of a summit measures the height of ...

(143) **

List of the most prominent summits of the United States The following sortable table comprises the 200 Topographic prominence, most topographically prominent Summit, mountain peaks of the United States, United States of America. The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal w ...

(129) *** List of ultras in Alaska (65) ** List of ultras of Central America (23) ** List of ultras of Greenland (39) **

List of ultras of Mexico The following sortable table comprises the 26 ultra-prominent summits of México. Each of these peaks has at least of topographic prominence.This article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and ...

(27) ** List of ultras of the Caribbean (7)

Oceania (69)

* List of ultras of Oceania, including the southern Indian Ocean (69) ** List of ultras of Australia (2) ** List of ultras of New Zealand (10) ** List of ultras of Papua New Guinea (31) ** List of ultras of the Hawaiian Islands (6) ** List of ultras of the Pacific Islands (6) ** List of ultras of the southern Indian Ocean (2) ** List of ultras of Western New Guinea (Indonesia) (12)

Distribution

Lists of ultras (1,516 total)

General

Africa (84)

Antarctica (41)

Asia (635)

Europe (120)

North America (356)

Oceania (69)

South America (209)

See also

Notes

References