Thirteener

In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener is a mountain that exceeds Convert|13000|ft|m|1 above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar "fourteeners" which exceed Convert|14000|ft|m|1. In most instances, the term "thirteeners" refers only to those peaks which are between 13,000 and 13,999 feet in elevation.

The importance of thirteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America with over 600 of them. Despite the daunting number of peaks, a few dedicated peak baggers have successfully managed to climb all of Colorado's thirteeners. Thirteeners are also most prominent in those states whose highpoints fall between 13,000 and 13,999 feet. Regarding whether or not peaks in excess of 13,999 feet should be considered as "thirteeners", this article will count them as such for statistical purposes, but concentrate its focus on those peaks less than 14,000 feet since the higher peaks are already covered in the fourteeners list.

Not all summits over 13,000 feet qualify as thirteeners: only those summits qualify which are considered by mountaineers to be independent. Objective standards for independence include topographic prominence and isolation (distance from a higher summit), or a combination. However thirteener lists do not always consistently use such objective rules. A rule commonly used by mountaineers in the contiguous United States is that a peak must have at least Convert|300|ft|m|1 of prominence to qualify. According to the [http://www.mcak.org Mountaineering Club of Alaska] , it is standard in Alaska to use a Convert|500|ft|m|1|abbr=on|abbr=on prominence rule rather than a 300 foot rule. These are the standards applied for the lists below.

List of United States thirteeners by state

Thirteeners are found in nine U.S. states. This table summarizes their numbers based on each state's prominence criteria:

Other notable Colorado thirteeners not named "Grizzly" include:

Alaska

Alaska has at least 41 thirteeners which meet its more stringent prominence criteria of 500 ft, of which 20 are also fourteeners. Different sources list varying numbers of 13,000+ ft peaks in the state, [cite web | title = Alaska’s Summits 13,000 feet and above | url= http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island_files/AK_13ers.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-02 ] [cite web | title = Alaska 13,000-foot Peaks | url= http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=21301 | accessdate = 2007-03-02 ] [cite web | title = Highest Alaskan Summits (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve) | url= http://www.nps.gov/wrst/planyourvisit/upload/Highest%20Alaskan%20Summits.pdf | accessdate = 2007-03-11 ] mainly because many of the peaks (especially those which are sub-peaks of a higher mountain) are unnamed and have no spot elevations given on the USGS topographical maps. The following list may still be missing a few peaks which should be included:

Utah

Utah has 17 thirteeners with at least 300 ft of prominence, but no fourteeners. [cite book | last = Rose | first = David | title = Utah Thirteeners | publisher = University of Utah Press | date = 2004 | isbn = 0-87480-794-8 | url = http://www.utahthirteeners.com/ ] [cite web | title = Utah’s Summits over 13,000 feet | url= http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island_files/UT_13ers.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-02 ] All of them are located in the remote Uinta Mountains near the Wyoming border, with none in the more famous Wasatch Range. Only nine of these thirteeners even have official names, the others (including those ranked 5–9) are merely unnamed sub-peaks with sufficient prominence to qualify. The highest of the thirteeners are:

Nevada

Nevada has only a single thirteener which meets the threshold for inclusion, Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park with an impressive Convert|7568|ft|m|0 of prominence. However, the highest point in the state is Boundary Peak, which is a sub-peak of California's Montgomery Peak with only Convert|240|ft|m|0 of prominence. [cite web | title = Nevada’s Summits over 13,000 feet | url= http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island_files/NV_13ers.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-02 |abbr=on|abbr=on]

Washington

Mount Rainier is the only mountain in Washington state which exceeds Convert|13000|ft|m|-2, and it has two summits which meet the prominence criteria, [cite web | title = Washington’s Summits over 13,000 feet | url= http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island_files/WA_13ers.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-02 |abbr=on] both of which are included on the list of fourteeners.

ee also

* Fourteener

References

External links

* [http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island.htm Peak Lists by Gerry Roach] (Lists of thirteeners in several states)
* [http://www.13ers.com/ 13ers.com - Home of Colorado's Thirteeners (Mountains Between 13,000 and 14,000 feet)]
* [http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/ca13ers.html California Thirteeners: The Official Vulgarian Ramblers List]
* [http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx Peak Lists - Peakbagger.com] (Lists of thirteeners in several states)
* [http://www.peaklist.org Peaklist.org] (More prominence information for high-prominence peaks)