Geography & Countries

The Tallest Mountains in the World

Every one of Earth's fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres sits in just two neighboring ranges, the Himalaya and the Karakoram — ranked here by elevation above sea level, not sheer bulk or climbing difficulty.

Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, as seen in National Geographic's Everest - Getting to the Top
Rank Mountain Elevation Range
1Everest8,849 mHimalaya
2K28,611 mKarakoram
3Kangchenjunga8,586 mHimalaya
4Lhotse8,516 mHimalaya
5Makalu8,485 mHimalaya
6Cho Oyu8,188 mHimalaya
7Dhaulagiri I8,167 mHimalaya
8Manaslu8,163 mHimalaya
9Nanga Parbat8,126 mHimalaya
10Annapurna I8,091 mHimalaya
11Gasherbrum I8,080 mKarakoram
12Broad Peak8,051 mKarakoram
13Gasherbrum II8,035 mKarakoram
14Shishapangma8,027 mHimalaya

The Top 5

#1

Everest — 8,849 m

Straddling the Nepal–China border, Everest's official height was last revised in 2020 by a joint Chinese–Nepali survey team, which added several metres to the figure long used before it.[1]

#2

K2 — 8,611 m

Known as the "Savage Mountain" for its brutally high fatality-to-summit ratio, K2 wasn't first climbed until 1954 — decades after Everest — and wasn't summited in winter until 2021.[2]

#3

Kangchenjunga — 8,586 m

Its name translates roughly to "Five Treasures of the Snows," after its five main summits. Considered sacred by local communities, the 1955 first-ascent team famously stopped just short of the true summit out of respect.[3]

#4

Lhotse — 8,516 m

Lhotse shares its lower flanks with Everest, connected to it by the South Col, and climbers on both mountains cross the same notorious Lhotse Face on their way up.[4]

#5

Makalu — 8,485 m

An isolated, four-sided pyramid of rock and ice east of Everest, Makalu is widely considered one of the most technically demanding 8,000-metre peaks to climb, despite not being one of the tallest.[5]

Geography Mountains Records

Sources

  1. China–Nepal joint 2020 survey of Mount Everest's elevation, and general eight-thousander elevation data aggregated from national survey and mountaineering-record sources.
  2. K2 climbing history and first-ascent/first-winter-ascent records, aggregated from mountaineering historical sources.
  3. Kangchenjunga first-ascent history and cultural background, aggregated from mountaineering historical sources.
  4. Lhotse route and geography, aggregated from mountaineering reference sources.
  5. Makalu route and geography, aggregated from mountaineering reference sources.