The US has more mountains over 14,000 feet ("fourteeners") than any other country.

To get clear on how high these 97 peaks are, I created an ultra-horizontal visual to show the mountains' ranking. From Denali to Mount Huron in Colorado, you can compare the sizes of these mountain-climbing destinations.

Another motivation to make this visual is the recent re-ranking by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). With more accurate equipment that involved using gravity meters to gauge sea levels, a group of scientists from NOAA found that some of the mountains were incorrectly ranked, as their actual elevations were slightly off. Now, we are talking a few feet here and there, but to the mountaineering community, especially in Colorado, their fourteeners are sacred. Luckily, none of the mountains lost their status as a "14er", but it was close.

 

Fun fact: one of the lead scientists participating in this study is my old college roommate, Derek van Westrum. So I can assure you this graphic has been NOAA-approved for accuracy!