The New England Fifty Finest is a list of mountains in New England, United States, used in the mountaineering sport of peak bagging. The list comprises the 50 summits with the highest topographic prominence — a peak's height above the lowest contour which encloses that peak and no higher peak. The list includes 20 peaks in Maine, 15 in Vermont, 14 in New Hampshire, and one in Massachusetts.
This list differs substantially from lists of peaks by elevation, such as the New England 4000 Footers. For instance, only one peak in the Presidential Range is on this list because the others do not have a major prominence, being connected to Mount Washington by ridgelines that are nowhere below 4,900 ft (1,490 m). Mount Washington has an elevation above sea level of 6,288 ft (1,917 m) but has a prominence of about 6,150 ft (1,875 m) because it stands that high above its key col — the lowest ground on the ridge line connecting Washington to the higher peaks of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Washington's key col is at the Champlain Canal in New York, the lowest ground on the water divide between the watersheds of the Hudson and Saint Lawrence Rivers.
Of the 48 New Hampshire Four-thousand Footers, only eight are also on this list, including Mount Lafayette and Carter Dome, which are the high points of the Franconia Range and the Carter-Moriah Range, respectively. The list includes several monadnocks, including the eponymous Mount Monadnock, and the high points of several small mountain ranges which have high prominence by virtue of their isolation from higher peaks by surrounding low ground.
List
Rank | Peak | State | Prominence [1] | Elevation | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mount Washington | New Hampshire | 6,150 ft | 1,875 m | 6,288 ft | 1,917 m |
2 | Katahdin | Maine | 4,290 ft | 1,310 m | 5,268 ft | 1,606 m |
3 | Mount Mansfield | Vermont | 3,640 ft | 1,110 m | 4,393 ft | 1,339 m |
4 | Mount Lafayette | New Hampshire | 3,360 ft | 1,025 m | 5,249 ft | 1,600 m |
5 | Killington Peak | Vermont | 3,320 ft | 1,010 m | 4,241 ft | 1,291 m |
6 | Sugarloaf Mountain | Maine | 3,180 ft | 970 m | 4,250 ft | 1,295 m |
7 | Equinox Mountain | Vermont | 3,060 ft | 935 m | 3,850 ft | 1,175 m |
8 | Jay Peak | Vermont | 2,975 ft | 906 m | 3,858 ft | 1,176 m |
9 | Mount Moosilauke | New Hampshire | 2,932 ft | 894 m | 4,802 ft | 1,464 m |
10 | Mount Bigelow | Maine | 2,855 ft | 870 m | 4,145 ft | 1,263 m |
11 | Dorset Mountain | Vermont | 2,840 ft | 865 m | 3,770 ft | 1,150 m |
12 | Carter Dome | New Hampshire | 2,821 ft | 860 m | 4,832 ft | 1,473 m |
13 | Old Speck Mountain | Maine | 2,720 ft | 830 m | 4,170 ft | 1,270 m |
14 | Mount Cabot | New Hampshire | 2,670 ft | 815 m | 4,170 ft | 1,270 m |
15 | White Cap Mountain | Maine | 2,610 ft | 795 m | 3,654 ft | 1,114 m |
16 | Coburn Mountain | Maine | 2,510 ft | 765 m | 3,717 ft | 1,133 m |
17 | Mount Greylock | Massachusetts | 2,470 ft | 755 m | 3,487 ft | 1,063 m |
18 | Mount Putnam | Vermont | 2,470 ft | 755 m | 3,642 ft | 1,110 m |
19 | Saddleback Mountain | Maine | 2,446 ft | 746 m | 4,120 ft | 1,256 m |
20 | Kinsman Mountain | New Hampshire | 2,420 ft | 740 m | 4,358 ft | 1,328 m |
21 | Stratton Mountain | Vermont | 2,410 ft | 735 m | 3,940 ft | 1,201 m |
22 | The Traveler | Maine | 2,340 ft | 715 m | 3,541 ft | 1,079 m |
23 | Mount Shaw | New Hampshire | 2,340 ft | 715 m | 2,990 ft | 911 m |
24 | Snow Mountain | Maine | 2,330 ft | 710 m | 3,960 ft | 1,207 m |
25 | Mount Ascutney | Vermont | 2,290 ft | 700 m | 3,140 ft | 955 m |
26 [2] | Kibby Mountain or | Maine | 2,260 ft | 690 m | 3,654 ft | 1,114 m |
Caribou Mountain | 3,650±10 ft | 1,112±3 m | ||||
27 | Mount Carrigain | New Hampshire | 2,240 ft | 685 m | 4,700 ft | 1,435 m |
28 | Baldpate Mountain | Maine | 2,240 ft | 685 m | 3,790 ft | 1,155 m |
29 | East Mountain | Vermont | 2,230 ft | 680 m | 3,439 ft | 1,048 m |
30 | Grass Mountain | Vermont | 2,200 ft | 670 m | 3,109 ft | 948 m |
31 | Baker Mountain | Maine | 2,190 ft | 670 m | 3,520 ft | 1,073 m |
32 | Smarts Mountain | New Hampshire | 2,190 ft | 670 m | 3,238 ft | 987 m |
33 | Mount Monadnock | New Hampshire | 2,160 ft | 660 m | 3,165 ft | 965 m |
34 | Cold Hollow Mountains High Point[3] | Vermont | 2,146 ft | 654 m | 3,327+ ft | 1,014+ m |
35 | Signal Mountain | Vermont | 2,140 ft | 650 m | 3,370 ft | 1,025 m |
36 | Mount Ellen | Vermont | 2,132 ft | 650 m | 4,083 ft | 1,244 m |
37 | Big Moose Mountain | Maine | 2,130 ft | 650 m | 3,196 ft | 974 m |
38 | Mount Kearsarge | New Hampshire | 2,100 ft | 640 m | 2,937 ft | 895 m |
39 | Doubletop Mountain | Maine | 2,080 ft | 635 m | 3,489 ft | 1,063 m |
40 | Elephant Mountain | Maine | 2,060 ft | 630 m | 3,772 ft | 1,150 m |
41 | Mount Osceola | New Hampshire | 2,040 ft | 620 m | 4,340 ft | 1,325 m |
42 | Boundary Bald Mountain | Maine | 2,010 ft | 615 m | 3,638 ft | 1,109 m |
43 | Gore Mountain | Vermont | 1,982 ft | 604 m | 3,332 ft | 1,016 m |
44 | Mount Cardigan | New Hampshire | 1,922 ft | 586 m | 3,155 ft | 962 m |
45 | Big Spencer Mountain | Maine | 1,920 ft | 585 m | 3,206 ft | 977 m |
46 | Camel's Hump | Vermont | 1,880 ft | 575 m | 4,083 ft | 1,244 m |
47 | Belknap Mountain | New Hampshire | 1,850 ft | 565 m | 2,382 ft | 726 m |
48 | Saddleback Mountain | Maine | 1,850 ft | 565 m | 2,998 ft | 915 m |
49 | Mount Blue | Maine | 1,840 ft | 560 m | 3,190 ft | 970 m |
50 | Moxie Mountain | Maine | 1,820 ft | 555 m | 2,930 ft | 895 m |
See also
- Adirondack High Peaks (the Forty-sixers)
- Four-thousand footers of New Hampshire
- List of New England Hundred Highest
- List of Quebec 1000 meter peaks
- Northeast 111, all 4000-footers of the Northeastern United States
Notes
- ↑ Measurements of prominence generally have less precision than those of elevation, since the elevations of the key cols are seldom surveyed, and must be estimated from the contour lines above and below on topographic maps. The values in this table are intermediate between the maximum possible ("optimistic") and minimum possible ("clean") prominences. The values are rounded off to the nearest 10 ft or 5 m unless known more precisely. The determination of precise values would require only minor alterations in the order of the list — with one exception.
- ↑ Caribou Mountain's elevation is in the range of 3,640–60 ft, so it may be higher or lower than Kibby Mountain (3,654 ft). Whichever of them is higher has a prominence of about 2,260 ft (690 m). The other stands only about 1,220 ft (370 m) above the lowest point on the ridge line between them — well below the lowest prominence on the list.
- ↑ "Cold Hollow Mountains High Point, Vermont". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
External links
- Most Prominent Peaks in New England, compiled by Roy Schweiker and Andy Martin
- PeakBagger.com: New England Top 50 by Prominence
- Map: "Northeastern US Mountains (New York and New England) Showing Peaks with 2,000 Feet of Prominence" by Aaron Maizlish, (2003).