Two-thousanders are

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 highe ...

s that have a height of at least 2,000

metres above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The c ...

, but less than 3,000 metres. The term is used in Alpine circles, especially in Europe (e.g. German: ''Zweitausender''). The two photographs show two typical two-thousanders in the Alps that illustrate different types of mountain. The Säuling (top) is a prominent, individual peak, whereas the Schneeberg (bottom) is an elongated limestone massif. In ranges like the Allgäu Alps, the Gesäuse or the Styrian-Lower Austrian

Limestone Alps The Limestone Alps (german: Kalkalpen) are a mountain ranges system of the Alps in Central Europe. They are of economic importance, including as a watershed source of drinking water. They have many accessible dripstone and ice caves. Geography T ...

the mountain tour descriptions for

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

s or hikers commonly include the two-thousanders, especially in areas where only a few summits exceed this level. Examples from these regions of the

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in t ...

are: * the striking

Nebelhorn The Nebelhorn is a mountain in the Allgäu Alps in Germany, near the village of Oberstdorf. It lends its name to the Nebelhorn Trophy figure skating competition and the Nebelhorn Classics a freeride race event. Also the Nine Knights freeski co ...

(2,224 m) near Oberstdorf or the Säuling (2,047 m) near Neuschwanstein, * the Admonter Reichenstein (2,251 m),

Eisenerzer Reichenstein The Eisenerzer Reichenstein is a mountain in the Ennstal Alps in the Austrian federal state of Styria. It lies south of the Erzberg near Eisenerz. Eisenerzer Reichenstein von Eisenerz.jpg, Eisenerzer Reichenstein from Eisenerz Eisenerz (6). ...

(2,165 m),

Großer Pyhrgas The Große Pyhrgas is a mountain in the Ennstal Alps on the border between Upper Austria and Styria. At a height of it is the highest summit and western buttress of the Haller Mauern range. Alpine hut A mountain hut is a building located hig ...

(2,244 m) or

Hochtor Hochtor, at , is the highest mountain in the Ennstaler Alps, part of the Northern Limestone Alps, in Styria, Austria. The mountain is protected as part of Gesäuse National Park, the third largest in Austria. Gallery image:Hochtor.JPG, Hochto ...

(2,369 m), * the Hochschwab (2,277 m) and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

's local mountains, the Schneeberg (2,076 m) and the Rax (2,007 m). The last-mentioned two are also the easternmost two-thousanders in the Alps, before their foothills descend to the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

and into the

Pannonian Plain The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the ...

. Analogous examples may also be found in the

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland ( ...

, but are rarer as the peaks are generally higher. In the

, two-thousanders dominate large regions of highland, for example in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

(including mountains in the

High Tatra The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

Beskids The Beskids or Beskid Mountains ( pl, Beskidy, cs, Beskydy, sk, Beskydy, rue, Бескиды (''Beskydŷ''), ua, Бескиди (''Beskydy'')) are a series of mountain ranges in the Carpathians, stretching from the Czech Republic in the west ...

and Low Tatra). There are no mountains in the UK that reach 2,000 metres. However the term is sometimes used there to refer to mountains over 2,000 ''feet'' in height.Nuttall, John and Nuttall, Anne (2009). ''The Mountains of England and Wales: Vol 1 Wales'', 3rd ed., Cicerone, p. 98. .

References

{{Reflist Mountains by height Oronyms

See also

References