4000m Summits in Alps

1. General concept of summit: any point of the alpine surface which is elevated by a certain difference in height in respect to the surrounding ground.

2. Any summit must be ‘autonomous’ in the sense of possessing individuality, interest, and other characteristics in order to be included in the ‘alpine summits of over 4,000 m’.

3. The list is intended to be primarily for mountaineers. Therefore, it is not based only on topographic criteria (which are anyway the main element), but also on complementary, more subjective criteria which could change the evolution of alpinism.

4. A certain number of summits, with a well-defined morphology, are automatically included in the list. For the choice of other summits, however, even for some included in precedent lists, but considered to be at the brink of acceptability, other criteria of choice had to be applied.

1. Topographic criterium: for each summit, the level difference between it and the highest adjacent pass or notch should be at least 30 m (calculated as average of the summits at the limit of acceptability). An additional criterium can be the horizontal distance between a summit and the base of another adjacent 4000er.

2. Morphological criterium: takes into account the overall morphology and aspect of a summit (applied especially for shoulders, secondary summits, rock outcrops, etc).

3. Mountaineering criterium: it takes into account the importance of a summit from the pointof view of mountaineering: the qualities of the routes reaching it, the historical significance, and how frequently it is climbed.