North America's 100 Highest : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

Overview

What is the most important characteristic when defining a peak? Climbers aspire to reach summits for a number of different reasons, altitude, first ascents, prominence, technical difficulty, landmass high-points, political high-points. The most common defining aspect is elevation. How high is it? This is arguably the single most important feature when comparing one mountain to another.

The following list contains the 100 highest summits in North America with at least 2,000 feet of clean prominence. Prominence is loosely defined as a summit's rise against the next highest saddle connecting the peak to another. Please visit this page for more information on the definition of prominence. This 2000P "clean" list eliminates sub-peaks and lesser peaks that are part of a general massif. All peaks are over 13,000 feet and the list is displayed using US measurements (feet).

This is a unique list not featured anywhere else. There are a very few other versions of North America 100 Highest, but they employ different rules of inclusion and therefore contain some different peaks. It's worth mentioning that Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, only barely fell short of the list, at #103.

The Highest - Denali

Second Highest - Logan

Third Highest - Orizaba

Many thanks to SP member Fletch, who is the original creator of this list. He put a lot of work into the research and html you see here. Please see the comments section for his original notes.

Distribution

Parent Range	# / %
St Elias Mountains	19
San Juan Range	10
Sierra Nevada	9
Sangre de Cristo Range	8
Front Range	7
Sawatch Range	7
Cordillera Neovolcanica	6
Wrangell Mountains	6
Alaska Range	5
Other	23

State /Province	# / %
Colorado	36
Alaska	32
California	12
Canada	10
Mexico	8
Wyoming	5
Guatemala	3
New Mexico	2
Other / US	2

Elevation (ft)	# / %
20,000	1
19,000	1
18,000	2
17,000	4
16,000	5
15,000	4
14,000	35
13,000	48

List

Rank	Mountain/Peak Name	Elevation (ft)	Prominence (ft)	State /Province	Parent Range
20,000 ft Peaks
1	Mt McKinley (Denali)	20,320	20,156	AK	Alaska Range
19,000 ft Peaks
2	Mt Logan	19,541	17,215	YT	St Elias Mountains
18,000 ft Peaks
3	Pico de Orizaba	18,491	16,148	PU	Cordillera Neovolcanica
4	Mt St Elias	18,008	11,184	AK/YT	St Elias Mountains
17,000 ft Peaks
5	Volcan Popocatepetl	17,717	9,909	MR	Cordillera Neovolcanica
6	Mt Foraker	17,400	7,200	AK	Alaska Range
7	Mt Lucania	17,192	9,974	YT	St Elias Mountains
8	Volcan Iztaccihuatl	17,126	5,053	EM	Cordillera Neovolcanica
16,000 ft Peaks
9	King Peak	16,972	3,455	YT	St Elias Mountains
10	Mt Bona	16,500	6,800	AK	St Elias Mountains
11	Mt Steele	16,404	2,362	YT	St Elias Mountains
12	Mt Blackburn	16,390	11,590	AK	Wrangell Mountains
13	Mt Sanford	16,237	7,637	AK	Wrangell Mountains
15,000 ft Peaks
14	Mt Wood	15,879	3,806	YT	St Elias Mountains
15	Mt Vancouver	15,787	8,832	YT	St Elias Mountains
16	Nevado de Toluca	15,354	7,250	EM	Cordillera Neovolcanica
17	Mt Fairweather	15,325	12,963	AK/BC	St Elias Mountains
14,000 ft Peaks
18	Mt Hubbard	14,950	7,995	AK/YT	St Elias Mountains
19	Mt Bear	14,831	4,988	AK	St Elias Mountains
20	Mt Walsh	14,783	4,416	YT	St Elias Mountains
21	Mt Hunter	14,573	4,623	AK	Alaska Range
22	Volcan La Malinche	14,501	6,299	TL	Cordillera Neovolcanica
23	Mt Whitney	14,495	10,075	CA	Sierra Nevada
24	University Peak	14,470	3,210	AK	St Elias Mountains
25	Mt Elbert	14,433	9,073	CO	Sawatch Range
26	Mt Harvard	14,420	2,327	CO	Sawatch Range
27	Mt Rainier	14,411	13,211	WA	Cascade Range
28	Blanca Peak	14,345	5,326	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
29	Uncompahgre Peak	14,314	4,277	CO	San Juan Range
30	McArthur Peak	14,304	3,018	YT	St Elias Mountains
31	Crestone Peak	14,294	4,534	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
32	Mt Lincoln	14,286	3,862	CO	Mosquito Range
33	Grays Peak	14,270	2,750	CO	Front Range
34	Mt Antero	14,269	2,503	CO	Sawatch Range
35	Castle Peak	14,265	2,345	CO	Elk Range
36	Mt Evans	14,264	2,754	CO	Front Range
37	Longs Peak	14,255	2,940	CO	Front Range
38	White Mountain Peak	14,246	7,196	CA	Inyo White Mountains
39	Mt Wilson	14,246	4,024	CO	San Juan Range
40	North Palisade	14,242	2,894	CA	Sierra Nevada
41	Nevado de Colima	14,220	8,858	JA	Cordillera Neovolcanica
42	Mt Princeton	14,197	2,157	CO	Sawatch Range
43	Mt Wrangell	14,163	5,563	AK	Wrangell Mountains
44	Mt Shasta	14,162	9,822	CA	Cascade Range
45	Maroon Peak	14,156	2,316	CO	Elk Range
46	Mt Sneffels	14,150	3,030	CO	San Juan Range
47	Pikes Peak	14,110	5,510	CO	Front Range
48	Mt Eolus	14,084	2,164	CO	San Juan Range
49	Mt Augusta	14,070	5,015	AK/YT	St Elias Mountains
50	Culebra Peak	14,047	4,807	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
51	San Luis Peak	14,014	3,113	CO	San Juan Range
52	Mt of the Holy Cross	14,005	2,111	CO	Sawatch Range
13,000 ft Peaks
53	Mt Humphreys	13,986	2,563	CA	Sierra Nevada
54	Mt Ouray	13,971	2,659	CO	Sawatch Range
55	Mt Strickland	13,911	2,494	YT	St Elias Mountains
56	Vermilion Peak	13,894	2,105	CO	San Juan Range
57	Atna Peaks	13,860	2,160	AK	Wrangell Mountains
58	Regal Mountain	13,845	4,345	AK	Wrangell Mountains
59	Volcán Tajumulco	13,845	13,058	SNM	Guatemala Ranges
60	Mt Hayes	13,832	11,482	AK	Alaska Range
61	Mt Silverheels	13,822	2,283	CO	Front Range
62	Gannett Peak	13,804	7,076	WY	Wind River Range
63	Mt Kaweah	13,802	2,027	CA	Sierra Nevada
64	Volcan Cofre de Perote	13,780	4,331	VZ	Cordillera Neovolcanica
65	Grand Teton	13,770	6,350	WY	Teton Range
66	Mt Cook	13,760	7,660	AK/YT	St Elias Mountains
67	Mt Morgan	13,748	2,628	CA	Sierra Nevada
68	Mt Gabb	13,741	2,581	CA	Sierra Nevada
69	Bald Mountain	13,684	2,099	CO	Front Range
70	West Spanish Peak	13,626	3,666	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
71	Mt Powell	13,560	2,960	CO	Gore Range
72	Hagues Peak	13,560	2,400	CO	Front Range
73	Mt Dubois	13,559	2,319	CA	Inyo White Mountains
74	Kings Peak	13,528	6,348	UT	Uinta Mountains
75	Treasure Mountain	13,528	2,808	CO	Elk Range
76	Mt Pinchot	13,494	2,077	CA	Sierra Nevada
77	Mt Natazhat	13,435	5,935	AK	St Elias Mountains
78	Mt Jarvis	13,421	4,721	AK	Wrangell Mountains
79	Volcán Tacaná	13,343	3,379	SNM	Guatemala Ranges
80	Mt Herard	13,320	2,000	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
81	Summit Peak	13,300	2,740	CO	San Juan Range
82	Antora Peak	13,269	2,389	CO	Sawatch Range
83	Hesperus Mountain	13,232	2,832	CO	San Juan Range
84	Mt Silverthrone	13,220	3,240	AK	Alaska Range
85	Jacque Peak	13,205	2,045	CO	Gore Range
86	Wind River Peak	13,192	2,552	WY	Wind River Range
87	Mt Waddington	13,186	10,758	BC	Central Coast Mountains
88	Mt Marcus Baker	13,176	10,726	AK	Chugach Mountains
89	Cloud Peak	13,167	7,067	WY	Big Horn Range
90	Wheeler Peak	13,161	3,409	NM	Sangre de Cristo Range
91	Twilight Peak	13,158	2,318	CO	San Juan Range
92	Francs Peak	13,153	4,056	WY	Absaroka Range
93	South River Peak	13,148	2,428	CO	San Juan Range
94	Mt Ritter	13,143	3,957	CA	Sierra Nevada
95	Bushnell Peak	13,105	2,385	CO	Sangre de Cristo Range
96	Truchas Peak	13,102	4,001	NM	Sangre de Cristo Range
97	Wheeler Peak	13,063	7,563	NV	Snake Range
98	Mt Dana	13,057	2,417	CA	Sierra Nevada
99	Spring Glacier Peak	13,045	2,218	YT	St Elias Mountains
100	Volcán Acatenango	13,041	6,020	CMT	Guatemala Ranges

Additions and Corrections

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ericnoel

Text

Voted 10/10

Nice page. This might be just the way the page is rendered in my browser but the black text on the dark blue background for the #/% fields is pretty much impossible to read. So you might want to lighten up that blue background or something. Very minor issue.

Nice choice on using a high prom cutoff. For an area as large as North America you want to get significant mtns instead of little 14er bumps and that high cutoff achieves that worthy end.

Posted Apr 15, 2011 5:33 pm

Steve Gruhn	Border Peaks?
Voted 10/10	Not sure if you can have multiple state/province listings for the peak locations, but you list only AK for the border peaks. These border peaks (Saint Elias, Fairweather, Hubbard, Augusta, and Cook) are also in Canada (YT, BC, YT, YT, and YT, respectively).
	Posted Apr 26, 2011 7:26 pm

Steve Gruhn	Guatemala Peaks
Voted 10/10	There are three Guatemalan peaks that have been omitted from this list - Tajumulco, Tacana (partially in Mexico), and Acatenango. All warrant inclusion, depending upon the elevation used for West Elk Peak (sources vary).
	Posted Mar 16, 2012 4:46 am


	gimpilator	Re: Guatemala Peaks
	Voted 10/10	Thank you for your excellent attention to detail. The list would not be accurate without your corrections. I have made the appropriate changes and I also updated the locations which you mentioned in the previous comment.
		Posted Mar 18, 2012 12:10 pm

Steve Gruhn	Spring Glacier?
Voted 10/10	Is there a reason that you omitted Spring Glacier Peak (elevation of about 13045 feet, prominence of about 2218 feet) in the Yukon Territory?
	Posted May 26, 2012 3:57 pm


	gimpilator	Re: Spring Glacier?
	Voted 10/10	Steve, nice job finding this peak. It's certainly prominent enough to be included. I will add it to the list. The reason it was not originally included is due to the fact that it is not an officially named peak. The name does not appear on maps and so it is not yet listed on sites like peakbagger.com but it did turn up on bivouac.com and google maps. It makes me wonder how many other unofficially named peaks are out there with enough prominence to qualify.
		Posted Jun 4, 2012 7:25 pm

Steve Gruhn	State/Province Count?
Voted 10/10	I think your state/province count is off. For example, you cite that there are 32 listed peaks in Alaska. I count 21, including the border peaks.
	Posted Jun 7, 2012 2:35 pm

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