Fourteener

Mount McKinley (North Peak), Alaska

Mount Saint Elias, Alaska

Mount Foraker, Alaska

Mount Blackburn, Alaska

Mount Sanford and Mount Wrangell, Alaska

Mount Elbert, Colorado

Mount Rainier with its three 14000+ ft peaks, Washington

Mount Williamson, California

White Mountain Peak, California

Mount Shasta, California

Maroon Bells (Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak), Colorado

Pikes Peak, Colorado

Wilson Peak, Colorado

This article is about mountains. For the concept in poetry, see Fourteener (poetry). For the NBA Development League team, see Colorado 14ers.

In mountaineering terminology in the United States, a fourteener is a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet (4,267.2 m) above mean sea level. The importance of fourteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America. Climbing all of Colorado's fourteeners is a popular pastime among peak baggers. Many people also try to climb all of the fourteeners in the contiguous United States. Several ski mountaineers have also completed ski descents of all the Colorado fourteeners, and the first attempts are being made to complete ski descents of all U.S. fourteeners.

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. Also, there is some debate as to whether or not peaks of 15,000 feet or more should be referred to as "fourteeners"; this article will refer to them as such.

A rule commonly used by mountaineers in the contiguous United States is that a peak must have at least 300 feet (91.4 m) of prominence to qualify. By this rule, Colorado has 53 (plus or minus 1) fourteeners, California has 12, and Washington has 2. However, the subsidiary summit of Liberty Cap in Washington (one of the summits of Mount Rainier), at 14,112 feet and 492 feet of prominence, is often not counted as a fourteener despite meeting the prominence criteria.

According to the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, it is standard in Alaska to use a 500 foot prominence rule rather than a 300 foot rule. By this rule, Alaska has at least 21 peaks over 14,000 feet and its 12 highest peaks exceed 15,000 feet (4,572 m).

For comparison, Canada has 15 fourteeners, and Mexico has 8; however the importance of the arbitrary 14,000 foot mark is minimal outside of the U.S. (due in large part to the use of the metric system). In Europe, it is very common to attempt to climb all of the independent 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) peaks in the Alps; that pastime roughly corresponds to fourteener-bagging in the U.S., although the European peaks are more technical climbs in general.

List of United States fourteeners

The following table lists the fourteeners which satisfy the 300 foot prominence rule (for Colorado, California, and Washington) or the 500 foot rule (for Alaska). In other words, it is a list of the highest independent summits in the United States. Note that even with a specified rule, there are a few ambiguous borderline cases, due to the unavoidable imprecision of surveys; the prominence range for these peaks is noted. Also note that due to imprecision of elevations, the order given below is not certain; in particular, different vertical data lead to uncertainties in the ranking. Elevations are given in feet.

Mountain	Height (ft)	State	Range
Mount McKinley	20,320	Alaska	Alaska Range
Mount McKinley North Peak	19,470	Alaska	Alaska Range
Mount Saint Elias	18,008	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Foraker	17,400	Alaska	Alaska Range
Mount Bona	16,550	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Blackburn	16,390	Alaska	Wrangell Mountains
Mount Blackburn East Summit	16,286	Alaska	Wrangell Mountains
Mount Sanford	16,237	Alaska	Wrangell Mountains
Good Neighbor Peak	15,700	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Churchill	15,638	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Fairweather	15,300	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Hubbard	15,015	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Bear	14,831	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount McKinley East Buttress	14,650	Alaska	Alaska Range
Mount Hunter	14,573	Alaska	Alaska Range
Mount Whitney	14,505	California	Sierra Nevada
Mount Alverstone	14,500	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
University Peak	14,470	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Aello Peak	14,445	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Mount Elbert	14,440	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Massive	14,421	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Harvard	14,420	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Rainier	14,411	Washington	Cascade Range
Mount Williamson	14,389	California	Sierra Nevada
Blanca Peak	14,345	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
La Plata Peak	14,336	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Uncompahgre Peak	14,309	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Crestone Peak	14,294	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Lincoln	14,286	Colorado	Mosquito Range
Grays Peak	14,270	Colorado	Front Range
Mount Antero	14,269	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Torreys Peak	14,267	Colorado	Front Range
Castle Peak	14,265	Colorado	Elk Mountains
Quandary Peak	14,265	Colorado	Tenmile Range
Mount Evans	14,264	Colorado	Front Range
Longs Peak	14,259	Colorado	Front Range
Mount Wilson	14,246	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
White Mountain Peak	14,246	California	White Mountains
North Palisade	14,242	California	Sierra Nevada
Mount Shavano	14,229	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Crestone Needle	14,197	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Belford	14,197	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Princeton	14,197	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Yale	14,196	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Shasta	14,179	California	Cascade Range
Mount Bross	14,172	Colorado	Mosquito Range
Kit Carson Mountain	14,165	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Wrangell	14,163	Alaska	Wrangell Mountains
Mount Sill	14,162	California	Sierra Nevada
Maroon Peak	14,156	Colorado	Elk Mountains
Tabeguache Peak	14,155	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Oxford	14,153	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Sneffels	14,150	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Mount Democrat	14,148	Colorado	Mosquito Range
Capitol Peak	14,130	Colorado	Elk Mountains
Pikes Peak	14,115	Colorado	Front Range
Liberty Cap	14,112	Washington	Cascade Range
Snowmass Mountain	14,092	Colorado	Elk Mountains
Mount Russell	14,094	California	Sierra Nevada
Mount Eolus	14,083	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Windom Peak	14,082	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Challenger Point	14,080	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Columbia	14,073	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount Augusta	14,070	Alaska	Saint Elias Range
Missouri Mountain	14,067	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Humboldt Peak	14,064	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Split Mountain	14,064	California	Sierra Nevada
Mount Bierstadt	14,060	Colorado	Front Range
Sunlight Peak	14,059	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Handies Peak	14,048	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Culebra Peak	14,047	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Ellingwood Point	14,042	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Lindsey	14,042	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Little Bear Peak	14,037	Colorado	Sangre de Cristo Range
Mount Sherman	14,036	Colorado	Mosquito Range
Redcloud Peak	14,034	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Mount Langley	14,028	California	Sierra Nevada
Pyramid Peak	14,018	Colorado	Elk Mountains
Mount Tyndall	14,018	California	Sierra Nevada
Wilson Peak	14,017	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Wetterhorn Peak	14,015	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Mount Muir	14,015	California	Sierra Nevada
San Luis Peak	14,014	Colorado	San Juan Mountains
Middle Palisade	14,012	California	Sierra Nevada
Mount Wrangell, West Summit	14,013	Alaska	Wrangell Mountains
Huron Peak	14,005	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Mount of the Holy Cross	14,005	Colorado	Sawatch Range
Sunshine Peak	14,001	Colorado	San Juan Mountains

The following are peaks that are sometimes considered fourteeners but do not meet the criteria for the above list:

• Mount McKinley, South Buttress, 15,885, Alaska. Prominence = 285-385 feet.
• Mount McKinley, East Buttress high point, 14,730, Alaska. Prominence = 330-430 feet.
• Mount McKinley, Browne Tower, 14,530, Alaska. Prominence = 25-125 feet. It is unclear why this became included on some fourteener lists.
• Mount Cameron, 14,238, Colorado. Prominence = 118 feet.
• El Diente Peak, 14,159, Colorado. Prominence = 239 feet. On many fourteener lists.
• Point Success, 14,158, Washington. Prominence = 118 feet.
• Polemonium Peak, 14,080+, California. Prominence = 160-240 feet.
• Starlight Peak, 14,080, California. Prominence = 80-160 feet.
• North Conundrum Peak, 14,040+, Colorado. Prominence = 200-280 feet.
• North Eolus, 14,039, Colorado. Prominence = 159-199 feet.
• North Maroon Peak, 14,014, Colorado. Prominence = 234 feet. On many fourteener lists.
• Thunderbolt Peak, 14,003, California. Prominence = 223 feet.

See also

• 4000 meter peaks of Alaska
• 4000 meter peaks of California
• 4000 meter peaks of Colorado
• 4000 meter peaks of North America
• 4000 meter peaks of the United States
• List of California fourteeners
• List of Colorado fourteeners
• List of highest mountains of North America (uses a stricter cutoff)
• Thirteener

External links

• 14ers.com: Home of Colorado's Fourteeners
• Fourteener list on peakbagger.com with prominence information
• peaklist.org (More prominence information for high-prominence peaks)
• Information on the fourteeners in Colorado
• Trip reports from Colorado Peaks
• California Thirteeners (VRMC) (Includes interactive maps)
• California Fourteeners (VRMC) (Includes interactive maps)