North AmericaRange Type | Continent | Highest Point | Denali (20,310 ft/6190 m) | Area | 8,992,817 sq mi / 23,291,395 sq km Area may include lowland areas | Extent | 18,144 mi / 29,200 km North-South 16,664 mi / 26,819 km East-West | Center Lat/Long | 40° 42' N; 111° 52' W | Map Link | Microsoft Bing Map | Search Engines - search the web for "North America": Wikipedia Search Microsoft Bing Search Google Search Yahoo Search
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North America has an incredibly wide variety of mountains, including ice-covered giants worthy of the Himalaya, huge ranges of craggy rock pinnacles, gentle, rolling, forest-covered hills, and exotic volcanoes on small tropical islands. Among the continents, only Asia has more mountains, mountain ranges, and variety of peaks.
The bulk of North America's mountains lie in a massive "cordilleran system" of nearly continuous ranges that run down the western edge of the continent, from Alaska to Panama. Here are the world-class mountaineering destinations of the Alaksa and Saint Elias ranges, plus many other ranges it would take more than a lifetime to thoroughly explore: the Brooks Range, The Coast Ranges, the Rockies, the Cascade Range, the Sierra Nevada, the Sierra Madre ranges of Mexico, and the long volcanic chain of Central America. In the entire world, perhaps only the Central Asia complex of the Himalaya/Karakoram/Tien Shan/Pamir/Tibet/Central China has more pure mountain volume.
Outside of the western Cordilleras, North America still boasts the icy crags of the Arctic islands, the sprawling forested ridges of the Appalachians, and the emerald ranges and volcanoes of the Caribbean.
Although there is a huge expanse of relatively flat land stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, across the Canadian Shield and Great Plains, the majority of North America remains an excellent place for lovers of mountains.
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Map of North America Click on neighboring ranges to navigate to them.
Note: Range borders shown on map are an approximation and are not authoritative. | Other Ranges: To go to pages for other ranges either click on the map above, or on range names in the hierarchy snapshot below, which show the parent, siblings, and children of the North America. | World | Level 0 (Parent) |          North America | Level 1 |                  Alaska-Yukon Ranges | Level 2 (Child) |                  North America Arctic Islands | Level 2 (Child) |                  Pacific Ranges | Level 2 (Child) |                  Intermountain West | Level 2 (Child) |                  Rocky Mountains | Level 2 (Child) |                  North America Plains | Level 2 (Child) |                  Appalachian Mountains | Level 2 (Child) |                  Central Mexican Ranges | Level 2 (Child) |                  Central America Ranges | Level 2 (Child) |                  Caribbean Area | Level 2 (Child) |          South America | Level 1 (Sibling) |          Europe | Level 1 (Sibling) |          Asia | Level 1 (Sibling) |          Africa | Level 1 (Sibling) |          Australia-Oceania | Level 1 (Sibling) |          Antarctica | Level 1 (Sibling) |
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Major Peaks of the North AmericaTen Highest Peaks | Rank | Peak Name | ft | m | Range2 | 1. | Denali | 20,310 | 6190 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 2. | Mount Logan | 19,551 | 5959 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 3. | Pico de Orizaba | 18,491 | 5636 | Central Mexican Ranges | 4. | Mount Saint Elias | 18,008 | 5489 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 5. | Volcán Popocatépetl | 17,759 | 5413 | Central Mexican Ranges | 6. | Mount Foraker | 17,400 | 5304 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 7. | Mount Lucania | 17,192+ | 5240+ | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 8. | Volcán Iztaccíhuatl | 17,103 | 5213 | Central Mexican Ranges | 9. | King Peak | 16,972 | 5173 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | 10. | Mount Steele | 16,644 | 5073 | Alaska-Yukon Ranges | Sub-peaks are excluded from this list. List may not be complete, since only summits in the PBC Database are included. |
Photos of Peaks in the North America
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