4,000ers of the Alps

In March 1994, the UIAA Bulletin published – in collaboration with the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) – an official list of the 82 Alpine summits higher than 4,000m.

The Bulletin read:

In the Alps the morphology of the peaks and summits above 4,000m is quite varied. There are single massive mountains with a well-defined morphology, but also more ‘ragged’ mountains, with several tips, small peaks, shoulders and small reliefs which are above 4,000m and often bear an altitude mark but no name on the maps.

The basic principles that guided the compilation of the list included:

1. General concept of summit: any point of the alpine surface which is elevated by a certain difference in height in respect to the surrounding ground.

2. Any summit must be ‘autonomous’ in the sense of possessing individuality, interest, and other characteristics in order to be included in the ‘alpine summits of over 4,000 m’.

3. A certain number of summits, with a well-defined morphology, are automatically included in the list. For the choice of other summits, however, even for some included in precedent lists, but considered to be at the brink of acceptability, other criteria of choice had to be applied.

4. The list is intended to be primarily for mountaineers. Therefore, it is not based only on topographic criteria (which are anyway the main element), but also on complementary, more subjective criteria which could change the evolution of alpinism.

The criteria of choice applied was:

1. Topographic criterium: for each summit, the level difference between it and the highest adjacent pass or notch should be at least 30 m (calculated as average of the summits at the limit of acceptability). An additional criterium can be the horizontal distance between a summit and the base of another adjacent 4000er.

2. Morphological criterium: takes into account the overall morphology and aspect of a summit (applied especially for shoulders, secondary summits, rock outcrops, etc).

3. Mountaineering criterium: it takes into account the importance of a summit from the point of view of mountaineering: the qualities of the routes reaching it, the historical significance, and how frequently it is climbed.

3,000ers of the Pyrenees

In December 1995, the UIAA Bulletin published an official list of the 129 main peaks of the Pyrenees and the 83 secondary peaks.

The Bulletin read:

This list is the result of many years of work by a group of mountaineers from both Spain and France led by Jean Buyse. The guiding principles used in this list are very similar, if not equivalent, to those used for the Alps. The distinction between main peaks and secondary peaks, and rigid criteria of acceptance have been defined: peaks must have a name, and be on a map or guidebook to be considered for entry.

If they are the culmination (highest) point of a given mountain, or elevations at a meeting of at least three ridges descending from the same summit and delimiting the slopes of said summit, they have been included in the main list. If they satisfy the first two, but none of these last two criteria, then they appear in the list of secondary peaks.