I'd have to disagree with Mt. Everest, Shasta, Rainier and Denali (from the list). Their sheer massif size take away from the singular vista of the actual peak.
However, my vote goes to Alpamayo, Ama Dablam or Mt. Blanc as THE most beautiful.

I'd substitute the four I mentioned above with: Artesonraju, Long's Peak, Machapuchare and Parinacota. Although I could come up with a VERY exaustive list of others that need mention.
This is what I could think of off the top of my head.

Those peaks were selected with an objective for people to buy plane tickets... no other criteria. Note the 'Find Flights' area on the right is updated with each peak.

The only one they got right is Mount Shasta.

mrchad9 wrote:The only one they got right is Mount Shasta.

Shasta doesn't look a whole lot different from Rainier, Mt Ararat, Mount Ngauruhoe, Mt Fuji, Chimbarzo. or many of the other peaks. My vote is for Mt Shuksan as seen from Artist's Point:



Begguya is pretty nice too:

An album of relevance http://www.summitpost.org/most-beautifu ... rth/232265 (There might be others on here). Ama Dablam for me.

Robson and not Assiniboine? Chimborazo? Come on. And Ararat? Cool peaks for sure, but 20 most beautiful?

Any "most beautiful" list that doesn't include the Grand can't be taken seriously.

For the Cascades' representative, I agree Shasta might belong. It has very graceful lines. But Rainier is a bit too blocky to be considered one of the world's top 20. And Hood is nicer than either.

No Sierra's on the list, which is also crazy. I guess the prettiest Sierra peaks are not famous enough, and the famous ones aren't always pretty, but how about Half Dome?

Some of the stuff in Gates of the Arctic is amazing. That and the Karakorams.

Marmaduke wrote:According to Bing travel:

http://www.bing.com/travel/content/search?q=World's+Most+Beautiful+Mountains%3a+Mount+Ngauruhoe%2c+New+Zealand&cid=msn1182084&form=HPTRAV&gt1=41000

What say you?

All we have to do is to take a quick look at Afzal's gallery, and that's only in Pakistan. Take a look at G4, Trango Towers, Nameless Tower,etc.etc.etc. I would add the following that are not in The Karakorams, Alpamayo, Ama Dablam, Machapuchar.

mrchad9 wrote:Those peaks were selected with an objective for people to buy plane tickets... no other criteria.

Sounds about right, but many of the peaks are very symetrical, like what a child might draw if asked to draw a mountain. I think what makes a mountain visually striking for climbers is complexity of terrain - sweeping rock buttresses, steep hanging glaciers, sinous couloirs, fluted ridges.

http://14ers.com/php14ers/panoramas.php?parmid=50
Check out this Pano from the top of Mount Wilson. The San Juans are beautiful.

From first hand experience, I've seen half of those mountains with my own eyes:

Mount Ngauruhoe, Mount Everest, Mount Fuji, Mount Cook, Mount Rainier, Kilimanjaro, Chimborazo, Ama Dablam, Mount McKinley, and Mount Shasta.

The other half, I have not seen myself:

Piz Bernina, Mount Ararat, Matterhorn, Alpamayo, Mount Robson, Fitz Roy, The Eiger, Aiguille du Dru, Aconcagua, and Shivling.

All those are beautiful mountains, but I doubt the person who chose them has been to many of them and the choice was probably made up in some conference room.

I can't really judge in a fair manner for the mountains I haven't seen, but if I were to choose the most beautiful mountains that I have seen, most would be in the Himalaya (I haven't been to the Karakorum). A few might be in the Caucasus, the Southern Alps (New Zealand) and maybe southeast Alaska, but other than Ama Dablam I wouldn't have chose those ones (even if they are pretty). Mount Cook might rank in the top 30-40 though.

Out of the mountains I haven't seen, the ones in the HImalaya (the ones I haven't seen), Karakorum, Baffin Island and Cordillera Blanca would rank as the ones that look the most beautiful in photographs.

Should a factor be whether the mountain looks beautiful from only a select few angles or whether it looks beautiful from every direction?

For the Sierra I propose....

K2 by far!

Does it have to have snow on it, or be high and technical to be beautiful?

What about the Pusch Ridge and Pusch Peak north of Tucson? I consider that a very beautiful mountain.