MOUNT EVEREST AND OTHER MOUNTAIN PEAKS HIGHER THAN 20,000 FEET

Thirty-one of the world’s highest mountains are 20,000 feet (6, 098 meters feet) or higher in elevation, relative to sea level. Twenty-two of these are in the Himalaya Mountains, and 14 are called the “eight thousanders,” in reference to their elevations being higher than 8,000 meters. Mount Everest is in the eastern part of the Himalaya complex, whereas the other >8,000 m are in the Karakoram Mountains, in the western part of the Himalaya complex. The Karakoma Mountains (also referred to as the Karakorams) are 311 miles in length and represent the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside of the polar regions.

Satellite View of the Himalaya complex, courtesy of Google Earth (2004).

The following list (compiled by me) denotes all of the world's tallest mountains (equal to or higher than 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), in descending height, as well as the name of each peak and in which country it occurs. 

MOUNTAIN	COUNTRY	ELEVATION
Mt Everest	Nepal/China	29,032 ft	8,848 m
K2	Pakistan/China	28,251 ft	8,611 m
Kangchenjunga	Nepal/India	28,169 ft	8,586 m
Lhotse	Nepal/China	27,940 ft	8,516 m
Malaku	Nepal	27,825 ft	8,481 m
Cho Oyu	Nepal/China	26,864 ft	8,188 m
Dhaulagiri	Nepal	26,795 ft	8,167 m
Manaslu	Nepal	26,781 ft	8,163 m
Nanga Parbat	Pakistan	26,660 ft	8,126 m
Annapurna	Nepal	26,545 ft	8,091 m
Gasherbrum I	Pakistan/China	26,509 ft	8,080 m
Broad Peak	Pakistan/China	26,414 ft	8,051 m
Gasherbrum II	Pakistan/China	26,362 ft	8,035 m
Shishapangma	China	26,335 ft	8,027 m
Chogolisa	Pakistan	25,148 ft	7,665 m
Skyyang Kangri	Pakistan/China	24,754 ft	7,545 m
Muztagh Tower	Pakistan/China	23,871 ft	7,284 m
Latok	Pakistan	23,442 ft	7,145 m
Aconcagua	Chile	22,835 ft	6,962 m
Ojos del Salado	Argentina/Chile	22,615 ft	6,887 m
Ama Dablam	Eastern Nepal	22,349 ft	6,812 m
Angel Star	Pakistan	22,316 ft	6,802 m
Monte Pissis	Argentina	22,283 ft	6,792 m
Kawagebo	Yunnan, China	22,110 ft	6,740 m
Denali (Mt. McKinley)	Alaska	21,950 ft	6,190 m
Yerupaja Grande	Peru	21,703 ft	6,617 m
Siula Grande	Peru	20,808 ft	6,344 m
Trango Towers	Pakistan	20,618 ft	6,286 m
Palcaraju	Peru	20,579 ft	6,274 m
Uli Biaho (tower)	Pakistan	20,043 ft	6,109 m
Laila Peak	Pakistan	20,000 ft	6,096 m

Source of Data = Wikipedia (2023)

Additional Comments: 

The Himalaya/Karakoram mountains regions are still being uplifted as the result of on-going collision between two tectonic plates, which began about 55 million years ago. One of the plates is the Indo-Australian plate, upon which the continental crust of India is being subducted underneath the Asian plate, upon which the continental crust of the Himalyas is being uplifted. You might want to see one of my earlier posts that discusses the gradual movement of India northward toward Asia, and the resulting geology.

When I was assembling the most recent data for this post and checking it for accuracy, I noticed that the elevation of most of the peaks have a revised elevation (several feet/meters of revision!) relative to when I made an earlier version of this chart about five years ago. It is true that some mountains “are continutally being elevated because of tectonic uplift, but the rates are typically no more that a few millimeters per year (e.g., 5 mm), not in several feet/meters per year! The reason for the discrepancies is that many of these mountains are periodically remeasured by means of more-and-more sophisticated measuring devices (especially via the use of GPS satellites). So, in a few years, no doubt some of the elevations given in this post will have been revised.

While on the subject of tall mountains, I decided to add the following information:

Earth's tallest mountain, as measured from bottom to top, is Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano in Hawaii. This volcano is 33,477 ft. tall (above the ocean floor—not just above sea level). It is only 13,803 ft. (4,207 m) above sea level.

SPACE MOUNTAINS: Of the 10 tallest mountains in our solar system, five are found on the surface of Mars. The tallest Martian mountain  is Olympus Mons (81,000 ft. = 15.5 miles high!---note: there is no "sea level" on Mars). The tallest mountain on Venus is Maxwell Montes (36,300 ft.) (National Geographic, Sept. 2013).