The highest and tallest Mountains

The Mountain Environment

by Mandy Barrow

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The Highest and Tallest Mountains

How are mountains measured?

Mountains are generally measured from sea level, however there are infact three ways a mountain can be measured:

From sea level to peak
From base to peak
From the distance from the center of the earth to the peak of the mountain.

The Worlds Tallest Mountain

The Eight-Thousanders
Mountains taller than 8,000 metres

The highest mountains on each continent
The Seven Summits

Web Links to further information

The World's Tallest Mountain

As mountains are generally measured from sea level, Mount Everest 29,035 ft (8,850m) is considered to be king. However, there is a difference between the highest and tallest.

What is the difference between highest and tallest?

The peak of the highest mountain is the furthest away from sea level.

The peak of the tallest mountain is the furthest away from the base of the mountain.

What is the highest mountain in the world?

At 29,035 ft (8,850m), Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Everest is 29,035 feet above sea level.

What is the tallest mountain in the world?

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth. Measured from top to its base below sea level, Mauna Kea beats Everest by 4,436 ft. (over 3/4 of a mile).

Did you know?

Although Mount Everest, at 29,035 ft (8,850m) tall, is often called the tallest mountain; Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii, is actually taller. Only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea stands above sea level, however, if you measure it from its base, which is below sea level, it is 33,465 feet. If you stand Mauna Kea and Mount Everest next to each other, Mount Kea would be 4,436 feet taller!

Mount Everest is stll growing!
Mount Everest (all all the other mountains in Himalayas) are still growing higher, at a rate of about 2.4 in/6.1cm per year, as the Indian Tectonic Plate slides north under the Eurasian Plate. That means in the last 26,000 years the Himalayans have risen almost a mile!

Over 8,000 metres tall

The eight-thousanders are the fourteen mountains on Earth that are higher than 8,000 metres (26,427 feet) measured from sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia.

Mountain Peak	Range	Location	Height
Mountain Peak	Range	Location	Feet	Metres
Everest	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	29,035	8,850
K2 (Godwin Austen)	Karakoram	Pakistan, Asia	28,253	8,612
Kanchenjunga	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	28,169	8,586
Lhotse I	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	27,920	8,501
Makalu I	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	27,765	8,462
Cho Oyu	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	26,906	8,201
Dhaulagiri	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	26,794	8,167
Manaslu	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	26,758	8,156
Nanga Parbat	Himalayas	Pakistan, Asia	26,658	8,125
Annapurna	Himalayas	Nepal, Asia	26,545	8,091
Gasherbrum I	Karakoram	Pakistan, Asia	26,470	8,068
Broad Peak	Karakoram	Pakistan, Asia	26,400	8,047
Gasherbrum II	Karakoram	Pakistan, Asia	26,360	8,035
Shisha Pangma	Himalayas	Tibet, Asia	26,289	8,013

The highest mountains on each continent
(the Seven Summits):

Mountain Peak	Continent	Height
Mount Everest	Asia	8,850 m
Aconcagua	South America	6,959 m
Mount McKinley (Denali)	North America	6,194 m
Kilimanjaro	Africa	5,895 m
Mount Elbrus	Europe	5,642 m
Vinson Massif	Antarctica	4,897 m
Carstensz Pyramid Mount Kosciuszko (The highest point on the Australian landmass )	Australia - Oceania	4,884 m 2,228 m

Mont Blanc is is the highest and hugest summit in the Alps.

Websites

Mount Everest
The highest mountain in the world when measuring from sea level.

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