# mountain elevation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 18, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007 "2004-03-18T09:13:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bonasativa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonasativa)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/1 "2004-03-18T09:13:31Z")
At what elevation does a “hill” become a “mountain”? Or is there such a height
geologically speaking? And while we’re on the subject- how often do our ears
“pop” with increasing altitude & for how long? Because when driving up into the
mountains my ears first pop at about 3,000 ft. but they pop again the higher I get.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/2 "2004-03-18T09:25:18Z")
I have no idea if this is based on fact, but in the movie [The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain](http://imdb.com/title/tt0112966/), the elevation had to be greater than 1,000 feet.
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### Author:  [@T.Mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Mehr)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/3 "2004-03-18T11:38:28Z")
1000 feet above sealevel?
I live in a place where pretty much everything is 1000 feet above sealevel.
I guess it’s the same discussion as with the question of how deep the shoulder between two peaks has to be to call it two separate peaks. That kind of thing bothers people who want to count how many mountains with elevations above (let’s say) 8000m there are.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/4 "2004-03-18T13:20:40Z")
There’s pretty much no definition. Particularly when you consider there can be two peaks separated by a high strip of land - does that count as one mountain or two? Also depends on the country you’re in - the highest peak in Britain is only 4400 feet.
Here’s an idea of the complexity of the issue: [http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/marilyns/chapter1.htm](http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/marilyns/chapter1.htm)
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### Author:  [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/5 "2004-03-18T13:49:44Z")
“Geologically speaking” there is no such distinction, but “Geographically speaking” the most oft-cited figure I’ve seen is 2000 feet of local relief.
(I provided a cite in a previous thread asking this same question–I’ll try to find it when I’ve got time.)
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### Author:  [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/6 "2004-03-18T13:55:16Z")
“What the hell?” thought I as I reached behind my desk. “Let’s see what the _Dictionary of Geological Terms_, 3rd edition, prepared by the American Geological Institute and edited by Robert L. Bates and Julia A. Jackson has to say!”
And this is it:
> [@](#):
>
> **hill** 1. A natural elevation of the land surface, rising rather prominently above the surrounding area, generally considered to be less than 300 m (1000 ft) from base to summit; the distiction between a hill and a _mountain_ is arbitrary and dependent on local usage.
> [@](#):
>
> **mountain** 1. Any part of the earth’s crust higher than a _hill_, sufficiently elevated above the surrounding land surface to be considered worthy of a distinctive name, and characterized by a restricted summit area. \ Generally, a mountain is considered to project at least 300 m (1000 ft) above the surrounding land.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/7 "2004-03-18T14:01:09Z")
The problem is defining the “surrounding land”. What if the land around the hill is at 10000ft, and the peak is 10900ft. Do we just call it a hill?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/8 "2004-03-18T14:39:33Z")
Technically, yes. I guess you could say that it’s gotta be _grand_.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mountain-elevation/235007/9 "2004-03-18T20:19:14Z")
Hmmm, I don’t think there can be a hard and fast definition of 1000 ft above the surrounding terrain. Because if there is, upstate New York is nearly literally filled with mountains: the Catskills region and Adirondacks region _are_ clearly mountains and are much greater than 1000 feet, but I would estimate that nearly %50 of the rest of the state is filled with what I would call hills that rise nearly exactly 1000 feet. Then again, I wouldn’t argue with someone who wanted to call them mountains, they seem to be on the edge.