Fun facts about mountains

Teide or Mount Teide is an active stratovolcano on the Spanish island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands. Its summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest of any island in the Atlantic Ocean.

From the “Name and legends” section

K2, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft).

From the “Name” section

Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884 m (16,024 ft), is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indonesia and within Oceania. The mountain is located in the Sudirman Range of the highlands of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia.

From the “Etymology” section

Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, the main summit is on the border between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.

From the “Climbing” section

Aconcagua is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes range, located in Mendoza Province, Argentina. With a summit elevation of 6,967.15 metres, it is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres.

From the “Etymology” section

Cotopaxi is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Cotopaxi National Park in Cotopaxi Province, about 50 km (31.1 mi) south of Quito, and 31 km (19 mi) northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a height of 5,897 m (19,347 ft).

From the “Description” section

The Rwenzori are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches 5,109 metres (16,762 ft), and the range's upper regions are permanently snow-capped and glaciated.

From the “Geology” section

Nanga Parbat, known in Shina as Diamer, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth with its summit at 8,126 m (26,660 ft) above sea level.

From the “Etymology” section

Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia, and Northern Europe. The 2,469-metre-tall (8,100 ft) mountain is located in Lom Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is in the Jotunheimen mountains within Jotunheimen National Park.

From the “Etymology” section

Mount Olympus is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa and Pieria, about 80 km (50 mi) southwest from Thessaloniki. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks and deep gorges.

From the “Geography” section

Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada, and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC).

From the “Discovery and naming” section

Gasherbrum II, originally surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at 8,035 metres (26,362 ft) above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China.

From the “Geography” section

Mount Rainier, also known as Tahoma, is a large, active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle. At 14,406 ft (4,391 m) it is the highest mountain in the U.S.

From the “Geographical setting” section

Broad Peak is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world at 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) elevation above sea level.

From the “Geography” section

Nevado Ojos del Salado is a dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile. The upper reaches of Ojos del Salado consist of several overlapping lava domes, lava flows and volcanic craters, with sparse ice cover.

From the “Geography and geomorphology” section

The Großglockner, or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass.

From the “Etymology” section

Vinson Massif is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is 21 km (13 mi) long and 13 km (8 mi) wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) from the South Pole.

From the “Geography” section

Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at 8,188 metres (26,864 ft) above sea level. Cho Oyu means 'Turquoise Goddess' in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the Khumbu sub-section of the Mahalangur Himalaya 20 km (12 mi) west of Mount Everest.

From the “Height” section

Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain of mainland Australia, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level.

From the “Etymology and charting” section

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Maritime Southeast Asia, located on the island of Borneo in Sabah. With a height of 4,095 metres (13,435 ft), it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th-highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th-most-prominent mountain in the world.

From the “Geology” section

Popocatépetl is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. At 5,393 m (17,694 ft) it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Citlaltépetl at 5,636 m (18,491 ft).

From the “Name” section

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William.

From the “Etymology” section

Manaslu is the eighth-highest mountain in the world at 8,163 metres (26,781 ft) above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in west-central Nepal. Manaslu means "mountain of the spirit" and the word is derived from the Sanskrit word manasa, meaning "intellect" or "soul".

From the “Geography” section

Toubkal, also Jbel Toubkal or Jebel Toubkal, is a mountain in central Morocco, located in the Toubkal National Park. At 4,167 m (13,671 ft), it is the highest peak in Morocco, the Atlas Mountains, North Africa and the Arab world.

From the “Geography” section