The European 100 Finest Mountains ranked by primary factor.

The list below identifies and ranks the 100 European mountains with the largest prominence or primary factor. Climbing peaks on this list will get you all over Europe to experience great diversity and incredibly breathtaking views. A vertical ascent on foot of at least 600 meter should be honored in order to qualify as a legitimate climb, many peaks will require more than a 1000 meter of ascent. Go climb them!

The primary factor of a mountain is the minimal vertical drop from its summit before one can ascend a higher peak. In terms of map contours, this vertical drop is defined by the first contour that encircles a higher peak and the preceeding (higher) contour line which has the peak in question as the highest point inside its closed curve. Between these two contour lines lies the (usually unique) defining saddle of the mountain.

Because Europe is attached by land to Asia there exist various, legitimate opinions on where to draw the defining boundary. From a prominence point of view, the natural definition is to consider a gradual higher sea-level until the landmass of Europe separates from Asia, ie. becomes a truely independent continent.

The boundary of "Europe" is therefore defined by the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Arctic Ocean (south, west and north side). In order to find a natural division towards Asia, consistent with the notion of prominence, one should find the lowest path from the Black Sea to the Arctic. The east boundary is defined by going from the Black Sea through the strait of Kerch into the shallow Sea of Azov. From the north-east end of Azov, there is a low depression (going south-east) that connects to the Caspian Sea across a saddle that is only 25 meter above sea level. From the Caspian Sea, head north along the river Volga. Now, follow Volga north (and somewhat east) until the city of Kazan where Volga sharply turns west. Continue upstream (west and north) along Volga until it reaches the big lake Rybinskoye south-west of the city Vologda.
We are now close to three saddles that all are part of waterways. The Mont Blanc key saddle is at 113 meter along the Volga to Baltic canal, while the key saddle for Galdhøpiggen (Scandinavia) is located along the Baltic to the Arctic waterway at elevation 97 meter. See this map (provided by Jonathan de Ferranti) for details. Note that there is also a third, only slightly higher saddle that connects to the Dvina river flowing to the city Arkhangelsk on the Arctic ocean.
In light of this, we see that Europe would separate from Asia if the sealevel rose 113 meter. Scandinavia would separate from both Europe and Asia, but we include it "in Europe" despite the fact that its key saddle connects to the Asia side.

A second consideration is to define which islands "near Europe" to include. Islands are associated with Europe, partly by geography and partly by historical and political relations. We have chosen to include all the islands in the Mediterranean, even Cyprus that geographers may classify as Asian. The Peloponnese penisula poses a special problem since the canal of Corinth now separates it from Greece. However, this is a man made alteration and we do not consider it an island.
10 island peaks make the list, this list is therefore extended to 111 such that also the 100 finest on the contiguous Europe are all included.

A separate list of 10 "European Atlantic Islands" with the most prominent mountains (down to the cutoff of the main list) that politically (and partly geographically) belongs to Europe, complements this list.

Finally, Russia and the Caucasus, lists 12 prominent peaks in Asia, that are "near" Europe. This list contains one island peak in the Arctic, one peak in the Ural and 10 peaks in the Caucasus. The European part of Russia, as defined above, has no peak with high prominence.

This list is based on data compiled by Eberhard Jurgalski, Jonathan de Ferranti, Vasja Kavcic and Petter Bjørstad.

Confirmed or suspected corrections are most welcome by email to: petter@ii.uib.no
Copyright 2000-2012, © Petter Bjørstad.
I appreciate that use of these data is acknowledged including a link to my main mountain page.

Two stars behind the rank means that I have climbed it (50/50, 100/100, 112/112).

Rank	Height	Name	Primary factor	Country
1**	4808	Mont Blanc	4695	France
2**	3326	Etna	3326	Island Sicily, Italy
3**	3479	Mulhacén	3285	Spain
4**	3404	Pico Aneto	2812	Spain
5**	2706	Monte Cinto	2706	Island Corsica, France
6**	2912	Corno Grande	2476	Italy
7**	2925	Musala	2473	Bulgaria
8**	2456	Timios Stavros	2456	Island Crete, Greece
9**	3798	Grossglockner	2423	Austria
10**	2469	Galdhøpiggen	2372	Norway
11**	2654	Gerlach	2356	Slovakia
12**	2919	Olympos	2355	Greece
13**	2404	Profitis Ilias	2344	Greece
14**	4274	Finsteraarhorn	2280	Switzerland
15**	3768	Wildspitze	2261	Austria
16**	4049	Piz Bernina	2234	Switzerland
17**	2941	Hochkonig	2181	Austria
18**	2764	Korab	2169	Albania/Macedonia
19**	4634	Dufourspitze	2165	Switzerland
20**	2995	Hoher Dachstein	2136	Austria
21**	3343	Marmolada	2131	Italy
22**	2519	Paringul Mare	2103	Romania
23**	3841	Monte Viso	2062	Italy
24**	2864	Triglav	2052	Slovenia
25**	2544	Moldoveanu	2046	Romania
26**	4102	Barre des Ecrins	2045	France
27**	2453	Páchnes	2038	Island Crete, Greece
28**	2694	Maja e Jezerces	2036	Albania
29**	2503	Säntis	2021	Switzerland
30**	2030	Athos	2012	Greece
****	****	End 2000 meter	****	**
31**	3905	Ortler	1953	Italy
32**	1952	Olympos	1952	HP Island Cyprus
33**	2218	Monte Baldo/Cima Valdritta	1950	Italy
34**	2648	Torre de Cerredo	1931	Spain
35**	4061	Gran Paradiso	1891	Italy
36**	3050	Pizzo di Coca	1878	Italy
37**	2336	Cima Dodici	1874	Italy
38**	2376	Killini	1870	Greece
39**	1978	Kissavos	1854	Greece
40**	1834	La Marmora	1834	Island Sardinia, Italy
41**	2795	Monte Amaro	1812	Italy
42**	2148	Dikti	1798	Island Crete, Greece
43**	3257	Haute Cime	1796	Switzerland
44**	2482	Maja e Papingut	1792	Albania
45**	2914	Vihren	1783	Bulgaria
46**	1956	Pangaion	1773	Greece
47**	2082	Chamechaude	1769	Grenoble, France
48**	2509	Peleaga	1759	Romania
49**	2528	Kaimaktsalan	1758	Greece/Macedonia
50**	2962	Zugspitze	1746	Germany
****	****	Europe's 50 Finest	****	**
51**	1743	Dirfis	1743	Island Evia, Greece
52**	1834	Jiehkkevarri	1741	Norway
53**	2097	Kebnekaise	1738	Sweden
54**	2637	Smolikas	1736	Greece
55**	3264	Antelao	1735	Italy
56**	2217	Pte.d'Arcalod	1719	France
57**	2267	Serra Dolcedorme	1715	Italy
58**	1956	Montalto	1710	Italy
****	****	Europe's 50 Finest, excluding islands	****	**
59**	2558	Grintovec	1706	Slovenia
60**	2515	Grosser Priel	1703	Austria
61**	2510	Giona	1702	Greece
62**	2592	Almanzor	1690	Spain
63**	2410	Grigna Settentrionale	1687	Italy
64**	2180	Monte Bondone/Cornetto	1685	Italy
65**	3558	Presanella	1676	Italy
66**	2286	Snøhetta	1675	Norway
67**	2540	Solunska Glava	1666	Macedonia
68**	2121	Maja Kendervices	1666	Albania
69**	2634	Birnhorn	1665	Austria
70**	2472	Col Nudo	1645	Dolomites, Italy
71**	2753	Pointe Percée	1643	France
72**	1627	Mount Enos	1627	Island Kefalonia, Greece
73**	1611	Fegari	1611	Island Samothrace, Greece
74**	2752	Jôf de Montasio	1596	Italy
75**	2031	Radomir/Beles	1595	Bulgaria/Greece
76**	2457	Liakoura	1590	Greece
77**	2784	Polinik	1580	Austria
78**	2303	Pietrosul Rodnei	1578	Romania
79**	1885	Puy de Sancy	1578	France
80**	2165	Monte Cimone	1577	Italy
81**	1625	Store Lenangstind	1577	Norway
82**	3614	Tödi	1570	Switzerland
83**	2749	Birkkarspitze	1567	Austria
84**	2376	Botev	1567	Bulgaria
85**	2044	Maja e Cikes	1563	Albania
86**	2344	Ellmauer Halt	1552	Austria
87**	2790	L'Obiou	1542	France
88**	1545	Roman Kosh	1541	Ukraine
89**	2373	Maja e Valamares	1526	Albania
90**	2369	Hochtor	1520	Austria
91**	2089	Sarektjåkkå	1519	Sweden
92**	2351	Grimming	1518	Austria
93**	4314	Grand Combin	1517	Switzerland
94**	2601	Pelister	1516	Macedonia
95**	2351	La Tournette	1514	France
96**	1589	Psili Korifi	1514	Greece
97**	3418	Piz Kesch	1504	Switzerland
98**	2396	Zirbitzkogel	1502	Austria
99**	3151	Cima Brenta	1500	Italy
****	****	End Ultras	****	**
100**	2857	Le Taillefer	1490	France
****	****	Europe's 100 Finest	****	**
101**	1738	Monte Amiata	1490	Italy
102**	1849	Bihor	1483	Romania
103**	2523	Bobotov Kuk	1478	Montenegro
104**	2168	Midzor/Midzhur	1478	Serbia/Bulgaria
105**	2301	Togano	1474	Italy
106**	1610	Pourianos Stavros	1473	Greece
107**	1919	Torrecilla	1472	Spain
108**	3630	Dammastock	1465	Switzerland
109**	2476	Monte Vettore	1463	Italy
110**	2430	Raucheck	1463	Austria
****	****	100 Finest excluding islands	****	**
111**	2806	Haldensteiner Calanda	1461	Switzerland

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