A peak’s prominence, also known as topographic prominence or relative height, is a measure of how distinct a peak is from other peaks. It’s defined as the vertical distance between a peak and the lowest contour line surrounding that peak and no higher peak. Prominence is a popular metric for peaks for two reasons: 1) it’s objective and relatively easy to calculate, and 2) higher prominence peaks are more likely to be interesting with higher independence vs. peaks with lower prominence.

Note that prominence is not the same thing as a peak’s vertical drop, which is usually extremely difficult to calculate because a peak’s base elevation can be highly subjective. Instead, peakery shows vertical gain for specific routes up peaks.

Prominence ranks are calculated only for peaks with known prominence. Note that since many peaks in peakery still have unknown prominence, the ranks are subject to change as new prominence info is added.