Highest Mountains in the World

It’s quite interesting how many people only know of Mount Everest as the highest mountain and don’t know of the other high mountains. Most of the world’s tallest mountains are in the Himalayas in Asia. In this article, we are going to study some of the highest mountains in the world, topped by the famous Mount Everest.

Contents for Highest Mountains in the World

1: Mount Everest (Height: 8,848 metres)

Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain. The height of the mountain is about 8,848.86 meters. This mountain is situated in the Mahalangur Himal in Northeast Nepal and in the south-central Tibet of China. The border between China and Nepal runs across the summit of Mount Everest. The local name for the mountain in Tibet is Chomolungma, which means the Goddess Mother of the World or Goddess of the Valley. The mountain was established as the highest mountain in 1852 by the governmental survey of India.

The mountain was first climbed by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. There are two climbing routes for climbers of Mount Everest. The first is the standard route, which approaches the summit from the southeast in Nepal, and the second route approaches the summit from the north in Tibet. Dangers associated with climbing Mount Everest include altitude sickness, bad weather, strong wings, hazards from avalanches, and the Khumbu icefall, which is considered the most dangerous.

2: K2 (Height: 8,611 metres)

K2 and Broad Peak from Concordia in the Karakorum Mountains Pakistan.

3: Kangchenjunga (Height: 8,586 metres)

This is the third highest mountain in the world, standing at 8,586 meters. Kangchenjunga can also be written as “Kanchenjunga” or “kinchinjunga”. The peak is located in the Kangchenjunga Himal and is flanked on the west by the Temur River, on the north by Lhonak Chu and Jong sang La, and on the east by the Teesta River. The Kangchenjunga Mountain has five peaks, with one peak in India, one in Nepal, and three peaks along the border between the two countries.

Joe Brown and George Band, in May 1955, were the first people to reach the summit of the Kangchenjunga. Since then, only 243 people have reached the Kangchenjunga summit. Four routes are used to reach the Kangchenjunga summit, with three of the routes in Nepal approaching the summit from the southwest, northwest, and northeast. The route in India approaches the summit from northeastern Sikkim.

4: Lhotse (Height: 8,516 metres)

Lhotse is the 4th highest mountain in the world, with a height of 8,516 meters. The name Lhotse, in the local Tibetan language, means the south peak. The mountain borders Nepal and China and is the closest to Mount Everest. Lhotse has three summits.

The main summit of Lhotse Mountain was first climbed on May 18th, 1956, by the Swiss Mount Everest/Lhotse Expedition with Ernst Reiss as the team leader. The second summit, Lhotse Shar, was first climbed by Sepp Mayell and Rolf Walter on May 12th, 1970. The Lhotse standard summit was first climbed on May 23rd, 2001 by the Russian Expedition headed by Eugeny Vinogradsky.

5: Makalu (Height: 8,485 metres)

Makalu, Cholatse summits and side of Taboche viewed from Renjo Pass in Himalayas.

Makalu mountain stands at 8,485 metres and is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas on the border of Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The mountain is situated 19 km from Mt. Everest on the south-east side. The mountain has a four-sided pyramid shape and has two peaks. The Kangchungtse summit is about 3 km northwest of the main summit.

The first people to reach the summit of Makalu Mountain were members of a French expedition with Jean Franco as the team leader. This record was set on May 15th, 1955. The mountain has very steep sides covered in glaciers, making it difficult to climb. Two hundred sixty people have successfully climbed the mountain to date, and 22 deaths have occurred while climbing the Makalu mountains.

6: Cho Oyu (Height: 8,188 metres)

Cho oyu peak: one of the highest summits in Himalayas.

7: Dhaulagiri (Height: 8,167 metres)

The seventh tallest mountain is Dhaulagiri, at a height of 8,167 meters. Dhaulagiri is in Nepal and extends from the Kaligandaki River west to Bheri, and is bounded by tributaries of the Bheri River on the north and southwest. On the southeast, the mountain is bordered by the Myagdi Khola river. K2 is the parent mountain of Dhaulagiri peak.

Dhaulagiri was first climbed on May 13th, 1960 by Kurt Diemberger of the Austrian expedition, Peter Diener, Nawang Dorje, Ernst Forrer, and Albin Schelbert. There have been 234 successful recorded climbs and 26 fatalities. Dhaulagiri is one of the most beautiful mountains and is popular for its visibility on the Annapurna Circuit.

8: Manaslu (Height: 8,163 metres)

Manaslu peak. photo source: wikimedia.org

Also known as Kuang, Manaslu is the eighth tallest mountain in the world, standing at 8,163 meters. The mountain is located in Nepal, in the Mansiri Himal of the Nepalese Himalayas. Manaslu meant “a mountain of spirits” in Nepalese and was derived from the Sanskrit word Manasa, which means intellect or soul. The parent mountain for Manaslu is Cho Oyu.

It is difficult to climb, with more than 60 recorded deaths on its treacherous slopes. The first people to climb Manaslu were Gyalzen Norbu and Toshio Imanishi of the Japanese Expedition on May 9, 1956.

9: Nanga Parbat (Height: 8,126 metres)

Nanga Parbat, also known as Diamer in Tibet, is the second most prominent peak in the Himalayas after Mount Everest. The mountain stands at 8,126 metres and is located in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. Nanga Parbat means “naked mountain” in Sanskrit. Nanga Parbat has the highest mountain face in the world, called the Rupal, which is about 4,600 metres above the base of the mountain. The Dhaulagiri is Nanga Parbat’s parent mountain.

The first person to climb Nanga Parbat was Hermann Buhl, an Austrian climber on the Austrian-German Expedition on July 3rd, 1953. The mountain is considered difficult to climb because of its steep slopes.