List of Peaks By Prominence - Terminology

Terminology

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. The lowest point on that route is the col.

For full definitions and explanations of (topographic) prominence, key col, and parent, see topographic prominence. In particular, the different definitions of the parent of a peak are addressed at length in that article. (Height, on the other hand, simply means elevation of the summit above sea level.)

Regarding parents, briefly: the prominence parent of peak A can be found by dividing the island or region in question into territories, by tracing the runoff from the key col (mountain pass) of every peak that is more prominent than peak A. The parent is the peak whose territory peak A resides in.

The encirclement parent is found by tracing the contour below peak A's key col and picking the highest mountain in that region. This is easier to determine than the prominence parent; however, it tends to give non-intuitive results for peaks with very low cols, such as Jabal Shams (number 110 in the list).

Note that either sort of parent of a typical very high-prominence peak, e.g. Mount McKinley, will lie far away from the peak itself, reflecting the independence of the peak.

In the table below, where a single parent is listed, the different definitions agree; where two are given, the prominence parent is marked "1", and the encirclement parent "²".