Ultra-prominent peak

An ultra-prominent peak, or ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) or more; it is also called a P1500. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. There are about 1,500 such peaks on Earth. Some well-known peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and thus do not achieve enough topographic prominence.

The term "ultra” derives from "ultra major mountain,” a term proposed by earth scientist Steve Fry, who studied peaks in Washington in the 1980s.

Distribution

More than 1,500 ultras have been identified above sea level: 654 in Asia, 357 in North America, 209 in South America, 119 in Europe (including 12 in the Caucasus), 84 in Africa, 54 in Oceania, and 39 in Antarctica.

Many of the world's largest mountains are ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, and Mount Olympus. On the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not ultras. Many ultras lie in rarely visited and inhospitable parts of the world, including 39 in Greenland, the high points of the Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, and many of the peaks of the Greater ranges of Asia. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names.