When we talk about a mountain’s height, there’s a few terms you might hear. There’s summit height or elevation, which typically just refers to how high a mountain’s highest point is above sea level, and then there’s mountain prominence, which can be a bit more complicated.
Simply put, mountain prominence is how much the peak sticks out compared to its lowest contour line. It represents how far you have to descend from a peak before you start climbing a taller peak. It’s very frequently confused with relief, which is how far a mountain rises from its surrounding landscape. Prominence can be a very valuable measurement, but it comes with its own problems.
In the video, Lhotse is used as an example. Lhotse’s summit sits at 27,940 feet, but because of the mountain’s proximity to Mount Everest, it’s prominence is only 2,001 feet. Maine’s Mount Katahdin, on the other hand, only stretches to an elevation of 5,269 feet, but because the closest taller mountain is quite a distance, it’s prominence is 4,288 feet.
So why does prominence matter? While there isn’t necessarily one consistent or official answer, prominence is frequently used to determine what actually counts as a mountain or ridge. If a high point isn’t prominent enough from another, nearby higher point, it isn’t necessarily considered a separate mountain or peak.
