Top 10 US Mountains

[djkest]

Wonder how they would be rated:

1) Technical difficulty in summiting?
2) Beauty?
3) Altitude of summit?
4) Historical Significance
5) National notariety?

Perhaps the answer is a combination of all of the above.

I think Whitney, Denali, and Rainier are all a "lock" based on that. Everything else is up to interpretation. Grand Teton and Longs are pretty high up there. Khatadin is pretty unremarkable except for the fact that it's fairly high for the area and it's the end of the AT (and visited a lot by east coast people). Mt. Hood- that is cool for the area. Mauna Kea- that is an amazing and prominent peak.

That Texas mountain? No way, as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't have a whole lot of any of the 5 attributes. There's only 10 allowed for the entire country.

For Sure:
Rainier
Grand Teton
Mt. Whitney
Denali

Strong Candidates:
Longs Peak
Pikes Peak
Mt. Hood
Mauna Kea

[Hacksaw]

how about the top ten world's most beautiful?

In no particular order

Ama Dablam
Eiger
Matterhorn
K2
Pyramid
Huntington
Denali
Grand Teton
Cerro Torre
Grand Charmoz

Excellent list...

[soad]

Mt Mitchell (North Carolina). Yeah, I know. But it's the tallest on the east coast at 6,684. And that's high for out there.

Any eastern peak on this list begins and ends with Katahdin. Mt. Mitchell is a wonderful mountain, but it nothing but a green bump compared to Katahdin.

Top five in the east:

1. Katahdin- the Knife Edge will make you think you are in Colorado.
2. Mt. Washington- horrible (fun) weather
3. Mt. Guyot - very long approach, bushwack to the summit
4. Mt. Le Conte - you can climb 5,200' vertical.
5. Mt. Davis - PA's highest, long hike (like 75 feet) from the parking lot to the summit :D

[hatidua]

Mt. Mitchell is a wonderful mountain, but it nothing but a green bump

When I first moved to NC many years ago, I figured I'd better go hike up "Mount Mitchell". I think "green bump" is fairly accurate.

[14erdude83]

Why has no one mentioned Capitol Pk. ????? I guess because its not visited as much and is kind of tucked away in the Elks?

but fact is Capitol needs to be up there in the top 10

[14erdude83]

my apologies i obviously didnt look at the first 2 pages of this thread lol ....

[jrbren_vt]

how about the top ten world's most beautiful?

In no particular order

Ama Dablam
Eiger
Matterhorn
K2
Pyramid
Huntington
Denali
Grand Teton
Cerro Torre
Grand Charmoz

Excellent list...

Well, this is fun, and there is no criteria, so I will rattle off ten that have stood out to me, mostly in photos (numbers just so I know when I hit 10):
1.) Mt. Kailash (Tibet)
2.) Ama Dablam (Nepal)
2.) Alpamayo (Peru (not NY))
4.) Dhaulagiri (Nepal)
5.) Shuksan (WA)
6.) Robson (Canada)
7.) St. Elias (AK)
8.) Cotopaxi (Ecuador)
9.) Mitre Peak (Karakoram)
10.) Machapuchara (Nepal)

Obviously there are numerous others I have never heard of that could make the list. Anyone see "Wild Russia" on one of the Animal Planet channels ? Some beautiful mountains there. Numerous peaks in the Karakoram I don't know there names, Mitre was just an example. I want to add Assiniboine, Siguniang, K2, Nanda Devi, etc... but ran out of room.

BTW, for those of you saying Mt. Washington, do you mean the one from the bumper stickers that say "This Car climbed Mt. Washington", or the one in Oregon ?

Maybe the bumper sticker is talking about the Oregon peak ?

[jrbren_vt]

Why has no one mentioned Capitol Pk. ????? I guess because its not visited as much and is kind of tucked away in the Elks?

but fact is Capitol needs to be up there in the top 10

The Elks have several candidates, the Maroon Bells are the prettiest IMHO, Snowmass ain't bad either.

[XMULE]

World's ten most beautiful must include Gasherbrum IV . . .

[14erdude83]

Why has no one mentioned Capitol Pk. ????? I guess because its not visited as much and is kind of tucked away in the Elks?

but fact is Capitol needs to be up there in the top 10

The Elks have several candidates, the Maroon Bells are the prettiest IMHO, Snowmass ain't bad either.

I guess Im thinking in terms how difficult is it, hard tough is it to get to, and how prominent the mountain is, snowmass is beautiful but im stuck on Capitol because of that Knife edge between k2 and Capitol, one of the sickest ridge routes I've seen(havent yet counquered,soon tho!) Personally I love the bells they are massive, steep and just plain beautiful, but i personally think Capitol has more Character..thats my $.02

[holttd]

wow thanks for the pics. laila and trango towers are absolutely incredible.

[smoove]

Denali is "beautiful" because it is the biggest mountain in the Alaska range, but its more of a massif than a 'mountain.' Im going to say if you take the mountain away from the Alaska range it loses a bit. Doesn't make my top ten unfortunately (but it did as a part of the top 10 US mountains).

Now that was the kind of post this subject needed. Thanks for finding those pictures. Laila is probably my favorite of those, but they're all amazing.