An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence 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 1,524 such peaks on Earth. Some well-known peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore 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 commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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

Distribution

Currently, 1,518 Ultras have been identified above sea level: 639 in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, 356 in North America, 209 in South America, 120 in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(including 12 in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

), 84 in

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

, 69 in Oceania, and 41 in Antarctica. Many of the world's largest mountains are Ultras, including

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow hei ...

, K2, Kanchenjunga, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, and Mount Olympus. On the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. Many Ultras lie in rarely visited and inhospitable parts of the world, including 39 in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

, the high points of the Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, and many of the peaks of the Greater ranges of Asia. In British Columbia, 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 ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu ...

), 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, (possibly) Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum 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 of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits ...

are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the high points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a prominence value almost equal to its elevation.

Lists of Ultras (1518)

General

* List of islands by highest point gives the 75 highest island highpoints, all of which are Ultras * List of mountain peaks by prominence 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 (639)

* List of Ultras of Central Asia (75) * List of Ultras of Japan (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. Baikal to Okhotsk Eastern Siberia Kamchatka Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kur ...

(53) *

List of Ultras of Southeast Asia This is a list of all the ultra-prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Mainland Southeast Asia. All values below are given in metres. Patkai-Chin Hills Indo-Malayan System Malay Peninsula Annamite Ra ...

(42) * List of Ultras of the Himalayas, 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. H ...

(92, including 12 in Oceania ) *

List of Ultras of the Philippines This is a list of all the Ultra prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 meters) in the Philippines. See also * List of mountains in the Philippines Sources ListMap {{Geography of the Philippines, state=expanded *Ultra ...

(31) * List of Ultras of Tibet, East Asia and neighbouring areas, including India (112) * List of Ultras of West Asia (88)

Europe (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 ...

(44) * List of European ultra-prominent peaks (76), including non-Alpine European Ultras (60), the Atlantic islands (6), and the European Caucasus Mountains (10) **

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

(33)

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 ...

(143, including 6 bordering the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

) ** List of the most prominent summits of the United States (129, including 6 in Oceania and 6 bordering

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

) *** List of Ultras in Alaska (65, including 4 bordering Yukon and 2 bordering British Columbia) ** List of Ultras of Central America (23) ** List of Ultras of Greenland (39) ** List of Ultras of Mexico (27) **

List of Ultras of the Caribbean The following sortable table comprises the seven ultra-prominent summits on the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Each of these peaks has at least of topographic prominence. Five of these peaks rise on the island of Hispaniola (three in the Do ...

(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)

South America (209)

List of Ultras of South America This is a list of the 209 ultra prominent peaks, or Ultras in South America. An ''Ultra'' is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of or more. Guiana Highlands Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Cordillera Oriental, Cordillera de M ...

(209)

References

{{Lists of Ultras Mountains Topography Ultra