Looks like their list of WC 1km prominence mountains matches mine.
Just looking around that website a bit - yet another site that has my photo of Popple with no photo credit provided. They also list Thabana Ntlenyana as the most prominent mountain in SA - which would be true if Lesotho wasnāt an independent country. That peak isnāt even close to the border, its about 6km from the SA border. Otherwise their stats are generally similar to mine.
They have 22 peaks with 1+km prominence in SA. They have Marakele (listed as Kransberg on their list) as 984m - I have it as 1067m. Also, despite having Table Mountain as 1067m prominence on their WC list, it isnāt on their SA list.
But otherwise I agree with their SA list.
ok great, thanks for the reply.
This prominence method of establishing a high or prominent mountain does not make much sense to me. It just does not give the real picture of a prominent mountain. You need to measure a mountain from itās foot to the summit to get the real prominence and height. I developed a different system a number of years ago and measured all our mountains on that scale (published in The MCSAās Journal). The ones that came out tops, are Groot Winterhoek, Champagne Castle, Seweweekspoort Peak, Cathkin Peak, Klein Winterhoek Peak, Du Toitās Peak and Towerkop.
Please provide more information on your system, Iām interested in the criteria you used.
I am familiar with the 25km radius method - where the summit is compared to the lowest point within a 25km radius - which is where Nanga Parbat in Pakistan takes the top spot at 6.8km (something I really want to see with my own eyes) - but what I donāt like about that method is that there may be higher summits within that radius. Excluding all but the highest within that range could eliminate some big mountains.
According to my own analysis of the data on prominence (based off satellite surveys, using a programmed formula to compare every possible set of the 1526 peaks on the list), there are only 8 sets of ultras within 10km of each other - three of those sets are K2 and Broad Peak, Gasherbrum 1 and Gasherbrum 2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum 2 (4 of the 8000ers are within a 26km of each other).
When I first encountered topographic prominence, I had similar reservations. The more I considered the system, the more brilliant I have realised it is, though. It is an objective scientific way to classify mountains. There is no opinion or bias in the system.
The problem with an angle based prominence system is that it will always be biased. Where is the bottom, which angle should be used? E.g. El Capitan at Yosemite looks really impressive from El Cap Meadow, but its actually just a cliff, it doesnāt even have a distinct summit. Is the base of Mafadi around the escarpment edge, the end of the basalt range, is it Injisuthi Camp, is it the sea?
For context - the best day Iāve ever had in the mountains was the day I climbed Cathkin Peak. By the 7% prominence definition, Cathkin Peak is a subsidiary summit of Monks Cowl and not a mountain in its own right. I have summited 172 summits in SA above 3000m (all the known non-climbing ones, and some of the climbing ones), but only 16 of the ones Iāve climbed qualify as mountain summits. So I have every incentive to argue against prominence - but based on the way I say it, it is what it is and I canāt change reality to fit what Iāve done. Nor do I regret hunting down every random bump I could find on the Drakensberg escarpment (although curiously only on the SA side of the imaginary line some politicians once drew).
What Iām saying: a scientific means to classify mountains is a great way of coming to defensible conclusions that can be consistently applied across the planet.
What Iām not saying: the above does not mean that something that doesnāt qualify as a āmountainā is not worth climbing, is not worth looking at etc. E.g. Cathkin is really beautiful to look at and has amazing views, its status as a subsidiary summit of Monks Cowl doesnāt take anything away from that.
The value of mountains is not in their statistical relevance, but in how they make you feel.
So why did I decide to try to climb all 24 mountains in SA with at least 1km prominence? Simple: it was a way of identifying SAās major mountain regions and ensuring I visit all of them. A lot of them are poorly documented and I have had to actually go and figure the route out in person, which has been really fun so far. 12 done, 12 to go!
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I have an article to send to Jonathan Newman. Can I get an email address to send it to?
Thanks, Derek
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for these posts. I think they provide very good information. I am planning to hike Seweweekspoortpiek during a coming visit to SA.
There is some recent work that you may be interested in: https://worldribus.org/. A team of individuals decided to gather all the peaks in the world that have a prominence of 1km or more. They call these peaks Ribus. I bought their book as soon as it was published. But you find the full list on the website.
Another website I found very useful is https://www.peakbagger.com/. It contains a lot of summits and a lot of lists like the ones you created for SA. For example the list of Ultra prominent summits in Africa https://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=494&cid=5079 or the list of the highest points of SA provinces https://www.peakbagger.com/List.aspx?lid=12490&cid=5079. I know you are already registered and have captured some of your ascents. But I thought it might be useful for the other people reading this forum.
Lastly, a group of individuals created Baggers without Borders: Home . Using data captured on the PeakBagger website, or provided by the baggers themselves, they maintain Halls of Fame for reaching the most prominent peaks of our planet. For example, the list of people who reported having climbed at least 10 of the 100 most prominent peaks of the planet: 2024. These tables are updated every year.
I hope you and others can find these resources useful.
Very interesting. I see they got to the exact same list of 24 that I did for South Africa - which is great to see. My original list was 22, working off satellite data, which missed Compasberg and Simonsberg - but I later looked over every peak that had 850m prominence according to satellite data and found those two as well (well, I knew they existed, just didnāt know if they had 1k). Both have small pointy summits, so the resolution of satellite data was too low to detect the real summit altitude with sufficient accuracy.
One notable point with a list of peaks is the margin for error - e.g. Tierberg and Riviersonderend both have two summits that could be the one with 1km prominence, depending on which source of data one uses. In the case of Riviersonderend, thereās a 3rd summit that the satellite data picks up near the survey high point on that ridge - which probably isnāt the actual high point, but one would ideally do all three just to be sure.
When I did Botswanaās high point last year, I did both the official one (Otse Hill) and the one the satellite data says is actually higher (Monalanong Hill). Most accounts of people who have done both are that their GPS said Monalanong Hill was slightly higher - which was also true of the four devices myself and Anita had between us on these summits (a watch and handheld GPS each). Anita posted a video of that trip on her YouTube channel.
I think the SA province high point list is well known, at least in SA hiking circles. It has had a fair amount of publicity over the years, even with some record holders having done the wrong summit for Namahadi (the location on Google Maps is a lower peak called Flat Top).
Interesting to see an attempt to list people with 10+ of the top 100 most prominent mountains. Iāve only done 9 ultras so far - got my 8th (Pichincha, Ecuador) and 9th (Chachani, Peru) this year. Neither of those are top 100s, though. Iāve got 3 of the top 100 - Kili (4th, Tanzania), Kinabalu (21st, Malaysian Borneo) and Meru (72nd, Tanzania). Easiest way to get to 10 would be to do volcano hopping in Indonesia.
Another useful resource for ultras is www.peaklist.org - which is one of the few well researched lists of ultras Iāve encountered.
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About the Botswana possible HPs (which I also reached in 2023), an expedition did proper measurements on them very recently: Monalanong Hill, Botswana Highpoint ā Country Highpoints. Interesting read.