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Created/Edited: Feb 20, 2006 / Jun 5, 2008

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Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

Topographic prominence allows all mountains to be measured on a level playing field. It measures how far a mountain rises above the highest saddle (its "key saddle") that connects the peak to a higher peak. Another way to think of prominence is to imagine water rising around a peak. As the water rises to the elevation of the key saddle, the mountain's summit becomes the highest point on an island. The prominence of the mountain is the same as the height of that imaginary island. The prominence of the highest points on land masses is measured as the elevation of the highpoint above the level of the surrounding water.

By definition an Ultra-prominence peak rises at least 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) above its key saddle or surrounding water. The traditional threshold for Ultras in the U.S. has been 5000 feet of prominence, and there just happen to be no peaks in the 48 states whose �clean� prominence is between 1,500 meters and 5,000 feet. Clean prominence is a peak�s minimum prominence when exact saddle and/or summit elevations are not known.

There are now 57 Ultra-prominence peaks in the 48 states. However, Mt. St. Helens is included in the list below, even though after the eruption of 1980 it is no longer an Ultra. I included St. Helens with its pre-eruption prominence because a number of SP members climbed it prior to the eruption, myself included. Therefore some of us, if so inclined, could complete the list of all 58 current and former Ultras in the 48 states. The current list of 57 Ultras is known to have been completed by only one person, Bob Packard. To date nobody has claimed completion of the list of 58.

PROMINENCE RESOURCES

BOOK

Dr. Adam Helman has recently published a fascinating book titled The Finest Peaks - Prominence and Other Mountain Measures. The book can be purchased in the black and white edition here, or in the color edition by e-mailing the author. I have the color edition, and have found it well worth the extra expense.

LINKS

Aaron Maizlish created the web home of prominence: http://www.peaklist.org/

Adam Helman hosts the prominence pages at COHP.ORG: http://www.cohp.org/prominence/index.htm

This site by Greg Slayden contains many sorts of lists, including lists based on prominence. You can register here, then log your climbs, and all of your lists are automatically updated: http://www.peakbagger.com/

This site by John Kirk also allows you to register and mark your climbs: http://www.listsofjohn.com

For prominence bagging statistics, see http://www.cohp.org/prominence/records.html

To join the Prominence forum, click here.

MAPS

Aaron Maizlish has created a beautiful map of the 57 current Ultras in the 48 states. See it here.

For Ultra-prominence baggers there is a completion map that can be filled in and posted on the web here.

THE LIST

Here's the list of the Ultra-prominence peaks in the 48 states, including pre-eruption Mt. St. Helens. The peaks are listed in descending sequence by prominence. Compiled 1999 by Edward Earl, Andy Martin, John Roper, David Olson, Ken Jones and Ron Tagliapietra.

Rank	Peak Name	Page Owner	State	Elev.	Saddle	Prominence	Peak Latitude	Peak Longitude	Peak Quad	Saddle Quad
1	Mount Rainier	vertx	WA	14,410	1,200	13,210	46.853	-121.759	Mount Rainier West	Vernon 82 L/6 BC
2	Mount Whitney	John	CA	14,491	4,420	10,071	36.579	-118.293	Mount Whitney	Coyote Peak NM
3	Mount Shasta	Sam Mills	CA	14,162	4,400	9,762	41.409	-122.194	Mount Shasta	Hollenbeck
4	Mount Elbert	Alan Ellis	CO	14,433	5,360	9,073	39.118	-106.445	Mount Elbert	Sylvania Canyon CA/NV
5	Mount Baker	scottv	WA	10,781	1,900	8,881	48.778	-121.812	Mount Baker	Skagit River 92 H/3 BC
6	San Jacinto Peak	mdostby	CA	10,804	2,520	8,284	33.814	-116.678	San Jacinto Peak	Beaumont
7	San Gorgonio Mountain	mdostby	CA	11,499	3,220	8,279	34.101	-116.828	San Gorgonio Mountain	Palmdale
8	Charleston Peak	redsplashman23	NV	11,915	3,675	8,240	36.272	-115.694	Charleston Peak	Niavi Wash
9	Mount Adams	John	WA	12,276	4,160	8,116	46.203	-121.489	Mount Adams	Cougar Lake
10	Mount Olympus	D Smith	WA	7,969	140	7,829	47.800	-123.705	Mount Olympus	Tumwater
11	Mount Hood	John	OR	11,239	3,560	7,679	45.374	-121.694	Mount Hood	Wapinitia Pass
12	Wheeler Peak	rmjwinters	NV	13,063	5,500	7,563	38.986	-114.313	Wheeler Peak	Kanarraville UT
13	Glacier Peak	D Smith	WA	10,520	3,040	7,480	48.111	-121.113	Glacier Peak East	Snoqualmie Pass
14	White Mountain Peak	John	CA	14,246	7,050	7,196	37.634	-118.255	White Mountain Peak	West of Huntoon Springs CA/NV
15	Gannett Peak	rfbolton	WY	13,804	6,730	7,074	43.184	-109.653	Gannett Peak	Mexican Flats NW
16	Cloud Peak	pictioneer	WY	13,167	6,100	7,067	44.382	-107.173	Cloud Peak	Waltman NW
17	Grand Teton	Alan Ellis	WY	13,770	7,240	6,530	43.741	-110.802	Grand Teton	Survey Peak
18	Sacajawea Peak	Brian Jenkins	OR	9,838	3,450	6,388	45.245	-117.291	Eagle Cap	Telocaset
19	Kings Peak	rfbolton	UT	13,528	7,180	6,348	40.779	-110.374	Kings Peak	Kemmerer WY
20	Mount Graham	streeyyr	AZ	10,760	4,440	6,320	32.702	-109.871	Mount Graham	Railroad Pass
21	Mount San Antonio	mdostby	CA	10,064	3,840	6,224	34.289	-117.646	Mount San Antonio	Cajon
22	Telescope Peak	forjan	CA	11,048	4,880	6,168	36.170	-117.088	Telescope Peak	The Dunes
23	Mount Peale	rmjwinters	UT	12,721	6,560	6,161	38.438	-109.229	Mount Peale	Lisbon Valley
24	Mount Washington	John	NH	6,288	140	6,148	44.271	-71.305	Mount Washington	Fort Ann NY
25	Mount Mitchell	John	NC	6,684	595	6,089	35.765	-82.265	Mount Mitchell	Englewood IL
26	Humphreys Peak	Steven Cross	AZ	12,633	6,594	6,039	35.346	-111.678	Humphreys Peak	Show Low South
27	Borah Peak	rmjwinters	ID	12,662	6,680	5,982	44.137	-113.779	Borah Peak	Donkey Creek
28	Mount Saint Helens (pre-eruption)	rfbolton	WA	9,677	3,760	5,917	46.198	-122.191	Mount Saint Helens	Spirit Lake East
29	Mount Jefferson	surgent	NV	11,941	6,080	5,861	38.752	-116.927	Mount Jefferson	Wells Summit
30	Mount Ellen	Dean	UT	11,522	5,680	5,842	38.110	-110.813	Mount Ellen	Bitter Creek Divide
31	Deseret Peak	mountaingazelle	UT	11,031	5,220	5,811	40.460	-112.626	Deseret Peak West	Juab
32	Mount Jefferson	Hammer	OR	10,497	4,720	5,777	44.674	-121.798	Mount Jefferson	Three Fingered Jack
33	Pilot Peak	Dean	NV	10,716	4,990	5,726	41.021	-114.077	Pilot Peak	Pilot Peak NW
34	Crazy Peak	bthere	MT	11,209	5,500	5,709	46.018	-110.276	Crazy Peak	Wolf Hill
35	McDonald Peak	mr kieran	MT	9,820	4,180	5,640	47.383	-113.918	Mount Harding	Cygnet Lake
36	South Sister	rbb7y	OR	10,358	4,780	5,578	44.104	-121.768	South Sister	Chemult
37	Sierra Blanca Peak	surgent	NM	11,973	6,440	5,533	33.374	-105.809	Sierra Blanca Peak	Ancho
38	Pikes Peak	kilimanjaro1	CO	14,110	8,600	5,510	38.841	-105.044	Pikes Peak	Lake George
39	Mount Nebo	rmjwinters	UT	11,928	6,440	5,488	39.822	-111.759	Mona	Fairview
40	Snowshoe Peak	dkantola	MT	8,738	3,320	5,418	48.223	-115.688	Snowshoe Peak	Stryker
41	North Schell Peak	streeyyr	NV	11,883	6,480	5,403	39.413	-114.599	North Schell Peak	Green Springs NW
42	Star Peak	surgent	NV	9,836	4,440	5,396	40.523	-118.170	Star Peak	Star Creek Ranch
43	Hayford Peak	cp0915	NV	9,912	4,520	5,392	36.657	-115.200	Hayford Peak	Burro Basin
44	Diamond Peak	Biglost	ID	12,197	6,820	5,377	44.142	-113.083	Diamond Peak	Monida ID/MT & Targhee Peak ID/MT
45	Flat Top Mtn (HP Oquirrh Mountains)	Dean	UT	10,620	5,250	5,370	40.373	-112.188	Mercur	Fivemile Pass
46	Mount Stuart	Fred Spicker	WA	9,415	4,080	5,335	47.475	-120.902	Mount Stuart	Stevens Pass
47	Blanca Peak	sunnysummit	CO	14,345	9,040	5,305	37.577	-105.485	Blanca Peak	Poncha Pass
48	Mount Timpanogos	Dean	UT	11,749	6,480	5,269	40.391	-111.645	Timpanogos Cave	Francis
49	Ibapah Peak	Dean	UT	12,087	6,840	5,247	39.828	-113.919	Ibapah Peak	Government Peak NV
50	Mount Cleveland	lloyd	MT	10,466	5,240	5,226	48.926	-113.847	Mount Cleveland	Summit
51	Lassen Peak	John	CA	10,457	5,240	5,217	40.488	-121.504	Lassen Peak	Beckwourth Pass
52	Arc Dome	ScottyS	NV	11,773	6,560	5,213	38.833	-117.352	Arc Dome	Hickison Summit & Bates Mountain
53	He/She Devil	Klenke	ID	9,400	4,200	5,200	45.324	-116.548	He Devil	New Meadows
54	Abercrombie Mountain	Dean	WA	7,308	2,140	5,168	48.928	-117.458	Abercrombie Mountain	Newport WA/ID
55	Mount Lemmon	Andinistaloco	AZ	9,157	4,000	5,157	32.443	-110.788	Mount Lemmon	Piety Hill
56	Chiricahua Peak	surgent	AZ	9,759	4,620	5,139	31.846	-109.291	Chiricahua Peak	Paramore Crater
57	Mount Eddy	Diggler	CA	9,025	3,920	5,105	41.320	-122.478	Mount Eddy	Hotlum & Weed
58	Miller Peak	streeyyr	AZ	9,466	4,460	5,006	31.393	-110.292	Miller Peak	Sierra Bonita Ranch

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