In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet (4267 meters). Colorado has the majority of fourteeners in the contiguous United States (53), followed by California, which has the second largest group of such peaks in the contiguous 48 states (12). Climbing all of Colorado's fourteeners is a popular pastime among peak baggers; another popular target is climbing all of the fourteeners in the contiguous United States. Various ski mountaineers have completed ski descents of all the Colorado fourteeners, and the first attempts are being made to complete ski descents of all U.S. fourteeners.
Contents
The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal ways:
- The topographic elevation of a summit measures the height of the summit above a geodetic sea level.
- The topographic prominence of a summit is a measure of how high the summit rises above its surroundings.
- The topographic isolation (or radius of dominance) of a summit measures how far the summit lies from its nearest point of equal elevation.
Qualification criteria
Not all summits over 14,000 feet qualify as fourteeners. Summits which qualify are those considered by mountaineers to be independent. Objective standards for independence include topographic prominence and isolation (distance from a higher summit), or a combination of the two. However, fourteener lists do not always consistently use such objective rules.
A rule commonly used by mountaineers in the contiguous United States is that a peak must have at least 300 feet (91 m) of prominence to qualify. By this rule, Colorado has 53 fourteeners, California has 12, and Washington has two.
According to the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, it is standard in Alaska to use a 500-foot (150 m) prominence rule rather than a 300-foot (91 m) rule. By this rule, Alaska has at least 21 peaks over 14,000 feet (4,267 m) and its 12 highest peaks exceed 15,000 feet (4,572 m).
Fourteeners
The following table lists the 96 mountain peaks of the United States with at least 14,000 feet (4267 meters) of topographic elevation and at least 300 feet (91.44 meters) of topographic prominence. Of these 96 fourteeners, 53 rise in Colorado, 29 in Alaska, 12 in California, and two in Washington. The 22 highest fourteeners all rise in Alaska.
Topographic prominence
The table above uses a minimum topographic prominence criterion of 300 feet (91.44 meters) and includes 97 peaks. The number of peaks included depends upon the minimum topographic prominence criterion. A criterion of 100 meters (328.1 feet) includes 90 peaks, 500 feet (152.4 meters) includes 77 peaks, 1000 feet (304.8 meters) includes 63 peaks, and 500 meters (1640 feet) includes 46 peaks.
The following U.S. summits have 14,000 feet of elevation, but have less than 300 feet of topographic prominence: