# Tallest Mountain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376 "2004-10-27T03:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/1 "2004-10-27T03:13:42Z")
Yes, I know [Everest](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwr5/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=47623) is considered the highest point and strictly speaking from base to summit [Mauna Kea](http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/maunakea.html) is the tallest. In looking I found that [Chimborazo](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/BeataUnke.shtml) is considered the tallest measured from the Earth’s center of mass, and Mauna Loa is most massive by volume. What I want to know is what mountain has the greatest elevation change from base to summit on land. That is, what will be most impressive when looking up from the base of it. I’ve seen reference to Nanga Parbat, but I thought I’d ask the Teeming Millions. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/2 "2004-10-27T03:24:28Z")
Define “base” and we can answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/3 "2004-10-27T04:10:57Z")
If you stand in Jackson Hole and enjoy the view of the Grand Teton Range, in a horizontal distance of about one mile, the vertical climb is greater than 7,000 feet, give or take. The vertical displacement is actual greater than 30,000 feet, but due to erosion and sediment fill, all that remains is the 7,000 foot (approx.) change. Still the view is most impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/4 "2004-10-27T06:04:23Z")
Mt. McKinley in Alaska may be what you are thinking of. Though it’s actual height is less than Everest, the actual climbing distance is higher, since you are starting much closer to sea level. At the bottom of Everest, you have been going uphill for hundreds of miles, and are already quite a bit above sea level when you start climbing the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/5 "2004-10-27T06:10:45Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Define “base” and we can answer the question. Not the necessarily the _actual base_, not sea level, but the place one would stand and look up at the mountain. Since this is a very unscientific way of looking at ‘tallest’ I’ve been having trouble Googling™ this question. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/6 "2004-10-27T06:19:33Z")
The vertical climb from Badwater in Death Valley to the top of Telescope Peak in the Panamint Mountains is from -282 ft. msl to 11050 ft msl. Second to Mt. Ranier in the contiguous US. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/7 "2004-10-27T06:21:36Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > The vertical climb from Badwater in Death Valley to the top of Telescope Peak in the Panamint Mountains is from -282 ft. msl to 11050 ft msl. Second to Mt. Ranier in the contiguous US. And Mt. Ranier is exactly the same height above msl as is Mt. Rainier. ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/8 "2004-10-27T16:30:38Z")
I found [another meandering thread](http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=3897&messageid=968642982) that nominates Nanga Parbat. It also brings up the difficulty in the term ‘base’. Anyone have hard references? ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/9 "2004-10-27T16:59:51Z")
Found a nice bit of info at [PeakList.org](http://www.peaklist.org/WWlists/WorldTop50.html) regarding [prominence](http://www.peaklist.org/theory/theory.html). ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/10 "2004-10-27T17:02:46Z")
Talkeetna, Alaska, at an elevation of around 400’ MSL, is about 60 miles from the summit of Mt. McKinley/Denali whose elevation is approximately 20,320’. 60 miles seems like a long way, but on a clear day the mountain completely dominates your view to the north - it seems to be almost on top of you. So by any reasonable definition of base, this mountain rises close to 20,000’. OTOH, it seems that Nanga Parbat can claim something like 22,000’. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/11 "2004-10-27T18:01:35Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Talkeetna, Alaska, at an elevation of around 400’ MSL, is about 60 miles from the summit of Mt. McKinley/Denali whose elevation is approximately 20,320’. 60 miles seems like a long way, but on a clear day the mountain completely dominates your view to the north - it seems to be almost on top of you. So by any reasonable definition of base, this mountain rises close to 20,000’. > > OTOH, it seems that Nanga Parbat can claim something like 22,000’. On clear days, we see Mt. McKinley/Denali from here in Anchorage, 120 airmiles distant. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/12 "2004-10-27T18:41:58Z")
Just the excuse I need to quote a paragraph from the introduction of _The Gilgit Game_ by John Keay: > [@](#): > > Edge now a little nearer the extremity of your vantage point [atop the cliffs near the Pakistani village of Gor]. This mountain needs putting into some proportion; it seems much too near. But move carefully; a steady hand and nerves of steel are called for. And when you are ready to look over, lie down. For between you and Nanga Parbat there is nothing. The cliffs above Gor are sheer for three-quarters of a vertical mile from where you lie. Below that they continue down for another mile and a half of broken precipice and crag. It is probably the most frightening declivity in the world–and one rivalled only by that which faces you. Nanga Parbat too rises straight out of this trough. The top of the mountain is 26,500 feet above sea level, the bottom of the trough 3,500. At a range of ten to fifteen miles, you are seeing in one uninterrupted sweep the greatest slope on the crust of the earth, 23,000 feet of elevation. That’s four and a half miles from the bare black rock along the topmost ridges, down through fields of snow and ice, down the precipices and overhangs, down the long winding glaciers, down through the forest and scrub, and down the steep and broken slopes of gravel to the cliffs at the bottom. The 23,000 foot figure may be a bit of an overstatement–see the other cites for Nanga Parbat in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/13 "2004-10-27T18:51:52Z")
To get Clintonesque here, it all depends on what your definition of “tall” is. Subject to disputes too bizarre to get into here, Mount Everest has the highest altitude above sea level. People above have named numerous mountains which stand higher above the surrounding terrain than does Everest. From flat surface terrain to summit, disregarding altitude and sea level, though, the correct answer is Mauna Kea, followed closely by Mauna Loa, and the two together being significantly higher than anything else on Earth – since they start from an abyssal plain 18,000 feet below sea level and climb to a significant altitude – Mauna Kea’ summit is 13,796 feet above sea level, and Mauna Loa’s 13,667. This means that the two mountains are nearly 32,000 feet high, from base to peak. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/14 "2004-10-27T20:29:58Z")
\*\*chukhung \*\*, that excerpt from _The Gilgit Game_ of the view from the cliffs of Gor of Nanga Parbat is striking. Does the book have any pictures? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/15 "2004-10-27T23:58:37Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > \*\*chukhung \*\*, that excerpt from _The Gilgit Game_ of the view from the cliffs of Gor of Nanga Parbat is striking. Does the book have any pictures? If I remember right, I think it does; but they’re probably not the sort of pictures you’re looking for. The book is a history of British exploration and conquest in the Western Himalayas and the Hindu Kush from 1865 through 1895. If you have an interest in The Great Game, it’s good stuff, but the lyrical descriptions of the mountains is only in the author’s introduction. I think the romance of the locale overwhelmed the historian in John Keay and he just had to cut loose a little bit in his intro. Those bookish types can surprise you once they get out of the library. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/16 "2004-10-28T00:39:14Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > From flat surface terrain to summit, disregarding altitude and sea level, though, the correct answer is Mauna Kea, followed closely by Mauna Loa, and the two together being significantly higher than anything else on Earth – since they start from an abyssal plain 18,000 feet below sea level Impressive to be sure, but the OP specified “base to summit on land.” ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-mountain/271376/17 "2004-10-28T22:28:59Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Impressive to be sure, but the OP specified “base to summit on land.” Not to mention the OP referenced Mauna Kea. > [@Me](#): > > …strictly speaking from base to summit [Mauna Kea](http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/maunakea.html) is the tallest =)