Tall Mountains of the U.S. and the World

A sampling of tall mountains in the U.S. and the world, for comparison.

• Mt. Everest, Nepal/Tibet border: 29,035 ft
• Mt. Nowshak, Afghanistan: 24,557 ft
• Mt. Nanda Devi, India: 25,643 ft
• Mt. Muztagh Ata, China: 24,757 ft
  
• Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska, tallest mountain in the U.S.: 20,320 ft
• Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, tallest mountain in Africa: 19,335 ft
• Mt. Fuji, Honshu, tallest mountain in Japan: 12,388 ft
• Mt. Hood, tallest mountain in Oregon: 11,239 ft
• Mt. Olympus, (Mytikas peak), Litohoro, Greece, tallest mountain in Greece: 9,570 ft
  
• Mt. Mitchell, tallest mountain in North Carolina and East coast: 6,684 ft
• Mt. Washington, tallest mountain in NH and northeast, 2nd tallest on East coast: 6,288 ft
• Mt. Katahdin, Baxter State Park, tallest mountain in Maine (5th tallest on East coast): 5,268 ft
• Ben Nevis, Scotland, tallest mountain in Great Britain: 4,409 ft
• Mt. Greylock, tallest mountain in MA: 3,491 ft

Fourteen mountains in the world are taller than 8,000 meters (26,427 feet) and they are all in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges in Asia.

According to some quick Web research on the tallest mountains in the world, the first one that is in North America is 107th, which is Mt. McKinley in Alaska. The first 106 (and most of the first 180 or so) are in Asia and South America.

For comparison, the tallest man-made structures are not even close in height to any of the tallest mountains or even a mountain like Katahdin:

• Canadian National Tower, Toronto, Canada: 1,815 ft
• Ostankino Tower,Moscow, Russia: 1,762 ft
• Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan: 1,670 ft
• Empire State Building, New York, NY: 1,250 ft

The Empire State Building sure seems taller when you're up on the observation deck, though.