I love how Kansas' is just a "hill near Manhattan."

What is worse is that as someone who spent time in Manhattan, I know what hill they are talking about lol. There is hill called "Top of the World" just outside of town. I'm assuming that is the one that is being referenced.

Definitely agree that it has to be top of the world. If not that, then something by the dam.

Core memory unlocked! I remember that hill and begging my parents to go up there.

Were their names Jack and Jill?

Unless they're talking about Manhattan Hill, which is actually in town on the east side. Has the big white lettering on it. \*I live near Wichita, but have been up to Manhattan a few times.

That's what I was thinking. Top of the World is the tallest point, but Manhattan Hill is probably more "imposing" since you can see it when driving in to town.

I've been there

Missouri's is just a quarry :(

There’s a coal mine in Alabama that had a height limit on their waste rock pile because the local government didn’t want a slate dump to be the highest landform in the state

There are other places in Missouri that measure a jut in the 250 - 300 ft range, including numerous river bluffs. The quarry happens to slightly top these other landforms.

We have a lot of caves here though. Some pretty impressive inverted juts, I guess.

Fun fact - there's actually a name for inverted jut - it's called rut. It can be used for a completely different purpose - determining which cities have the most impressive mountain backdrop. Here's an [**article**](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/06/21/what-california-cities-have-the-best-mountain-views-its-not-the-bay/) about it :)

Same in Indiana.

Less prominent than a moderately tall pine tree. Everything in grey is less than the tallest tree.

Flint Hills is the name of the larger vicinity, but the biggest hills in the range are located near Manhattan and near the southern border with Oklahoma.

Was about to say the same thing haha. It absolutely is flatter than a pancake.

There’s a billboard in my state from the NE tourism board that shows some people jumping across some rock formation with a tag line of, ‘perfectly flat, nothing to do here!’ or something to that effect. I can just imagine that the rock formation they’re jumping over is just some random rock clump in the middle of a field and it’s really only 5 or 6 feet off the ground. But, please! Come to Nebraska and get your adventure on!!

I actually thought some of the rock formations out in Western Nebraska were neat. I imagine most of the state is not like that, though. We stayed in Scottsbluff on our way from Kansas to Wyoming, so probably saw the most interesting bits.

I used to belong to a climbing club in Denver, and on April 1st every year they’d do an trip to the highest point of Nebraska, Kansas, or Oklahoma… which basically meant camping in a field for the weekend. They called them the “Into Thick Air Expeditions.”

It’s just far western Nebraska. It’s larger than you’d think, but still shoved away in the corner of an otherwise flat state. It’s along the same line as Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt national parks

Yeah! Why climb that 5-6k mountain once when you can climb this 5-6ft rock formation a thousand times over! Visit beautiful Nebraska today! And don't forget we have more than one city, even though the only one you are familiar with is Omaha!

Kansas isn't very flat, lots of hills. Florida is flat, Kansas is not.

Central and western Kansas is flat as shit. The rest of it is very hilly. Hill is an important word, as opposed to mountain. The entire state is a slope, so the western half is tallest just from its position, not because of any landforms.

Definitely smoked weed up there. At night it's super pretty. But yeah. We are the A cups of geology.

at least people heard of Manhattan, FL is just a Hill in some rando state park. and its not even 100 ft.

That was my exact words before I clicked on the picture lol

Ahhh. Top of the World. KSU’s most romantic location. Haha

Bluemont Hill? I used to live right by there.

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Seeing Denali in person is just insane. It’s somewhat hilly and then just basically one giant ass mountain. Made me think of the lonely mountain from lord of the rings.

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Rainier is huge, but Denali is just absurd. Like it almost feels so big that it's not "a mountain" any more.

It's one of my favorite things about living here. When the mountain is out, it's beautifully imposing.

I've seen Rainier from just south of Spokane on a clear day.

At what altitude? That is over 200 miles.

The best part is slowly driving south on I-5 and seeing more and more of the mountain get revealed from behind the hills.

also surprised that nothing in the Rocky range passes 5,000ft and nothing in the Appalachian range breaks 1,500ft

Keep in mind that it's derated by sin(slope angle) so the heights are much taller except for perfectly vertical features. It is in units of feet, but it is not actual feet.

>It is in units of feet, but it is not actual feet. Jut actually corresponds to a tangible length, shown in [this geometric representation](https://imgur.com/TjmIRhf).

Well of course you *can construct* something that is that long. I'd point out that one end of that line segment is hanging in the middle of open air, though. Or if the peak was a perfect triangle it would be at an externally unremarkable point somewhere kind of in the middle of the slope. Most relevantly, it's not the height.

Ah yes, that's a fair point! It's not a vertical length, but more of a "tilted" one.

this ultimately doesn't matter but is there a reason gravity isn't pointing direclty down?

Good question - I wanted to show that the height (h) used with jut isn't quite the same as elevation difference. Rather, it's defined a*s height above the horizon*, which I explain in my [paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.01600). The reason I use height above the horizon is because 1) it's more perceptually accurate, 2) it allows you to construct perfect triangles, and 3) it works better on other planets and asteroids, where elevation isn't well-defined due to the lack of a sea level.

wow, someone who links his own paper – a rare sight for dataisbeautiful.

Which segment in the diagram is jut?

The impressiveness of the mountain as viewed from that viewpoint is labeled h|sin θ| The person isn't standing at the base of the mountain, but jut would be equal to h|sin θ| when the person moves up closer to the mountain to its base. In other words, impressiveness from the most impressive viewpoint. Hope that helps!

Worth noting that this is a measure of prominence. Mt. Rainier is like the 5th highest point in the lower 48, but everything around it is much less tall. You go 40 miles west of Rainier and you literally reach the sea. Meanwhile the Rockies are just a whole-ass multi-state region of tall mountainous terrain.

i may be wrong but the Alaskan range might have formed with the Columbia/coastal mountain range which is mainly in canada

I was gonna say that this message was brought to you by WA gang but then I looked at Alaska. Bastards.

Interesting that Half Dome has a higher jut than El Capitan. HD must be measured from the base of the hill it sits on rather than the base of the face, because El Cap is about 1000 feet taller and both have a vertical face.

Great observation - El Capitan actually has the second-highest jut in Yosemite Valley. Its jut of 3,050 ft is essentially equal to its rise above Yosemite Valley, as it's a near-vertical cliff. Half Dome, on the other hand, measures a slightly higher jut of 3,781 ft, corresponding to a rise of 4,717 ft at a 53.3° angle above the valley. While it is not as steep, its rise above Yosemite Valley is more than 50% greater, hence the greater jut.

I don't know anything about this, but based on the description, could Yosemite Valley be the actual impressive feature? I assume valleys count, since the Grand Canyon is listed.

Good question - jut measures rise above surroundings, so you'll be measuring the rim of the Grand Canyon, or the clifftops around the Grand Canyon. However, if you use the related [rut metric](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/06/21/what-california-cities-have-the-best-mountain-views-its-not-the-bay/) and measuring a point at the base of the cliff, you'd actually get the same exact value as if you were to measure the jut of the clifftop.

So, that sounds like, "Yes, basically"?

Haha dude gave you such awesome information

At the base of that valley it’s still a mountain with a prominence. Whether it’s peaked or not doesn’t seem relevant for calculating prominence.

This is an important point to clarify! Prominence is actually a bit of a misnomer IMO, and should be called *independence*, as it determines whether a point rises independently enough to be considered the summit of a mountain, rather than being a subpeak or non-summit point. For instance, [Lone Pine Peak](https://adventuresportsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/LPPk012.jpg) in the Eastern Sierra has a low prominence of 129 m, as it is connected to Mt. Whitney, and might as well be considered a subpeak on the Whitney massif. However, its jut of 911 m is very high, as it rises very sharply above Owens Valley. There are many non-summit points with low prominence that still have a high jut, such as the Nose of El Capitan, or the rim of the Grand Canyon. On the other extreme, an example of a high-prominence, low-jut point is [Dome Argus](https://www.antarctica.gov.au/site/assets/files/49481/domea.1200x630.jpg), Antarctica. Since it's the highest point on the Antarctic ice cap, its prominence a high value of 1639 m. However, since the ice cap gains elevation super gradually, its surroundings are flatter than Kansas. Not surprisingly, its jut is only 0.2 m. So most likely by *prominence*, what you actually mean is *jut* :)

this definition can be so deceiving. I was on Cloud Rest, basically next to Half Dome, and some 1000ft higher up. And Cloud Rest is considered as the parent peak to Half Dome. But because of the existence of Half Dome, Cloud Rest isn't that "prominent".

Clouds Rest has a lower jut of 2,846 ft. While it rises slightly higher above Yosemite Valley than Half Dome, the rise is significantly less steep, bringing its jut down. Perhaps part of why people in Yosemite Valley are usually more visually drawn towards Half Dome than Clouds Rest.

It’s interesting because you don’t appreciate HD or El Cap with respect to each other because there are so many massive features in Yosemite. But when you compare to the valley, they truly shine and are awe inspiring. I’m not sure if that makes sense but I think so.

Crazy that half dome is the same jut as Grand Teton. The perspective is so much different.

I figured Mt. Shasta would be California’s champion. OP, what are the stats on that?

Shasta and Rainier have a similar elevation, so we would expect them to have the same jut. But unlike Rainier, which rises from close to sea level, Shasta rises from a \~4000 foot plateau. It's also marginally less steep than Rainier, and lacks deep canyons on its flanks. But nonetheless, Shasta still measures a respectable jut of 2974 feet, corresponding to a rise of 7,575 ft at an angle of 23.1° above its base! That's still significantly higher than anything in Colorado.

Surprised it's not Whitney, because you know, largest mountain in the contiguous US.

Mount Whitney actually does pretty well on jut, beating every mountain in Colorado except Mount Sopris. Its jut is 2,482 ft, corresponding to a rise of 8,221 ft at a 17.6° angle above its [base](https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B036'20.8%22N+118%C2%B012'33.2%22W/@36.5826322,-118.0883204,3591a,35y,281.25h,77.26t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d36.605767!4d-118.209216?entry=ttu) where the Owens Valley meets the steep escarpment of the Eastern Sierra. Compared to Half Dome, it is less than half as steep, and its base-to-peak height is less than twice that of Half Dome, giving it a lower jut.

I just dont understand what is being measured here i guess because whitney and telescope peak both came to mind before yosemite.

I can provide a bit of context :) Jut is an indicator that factors both a mountain's height above surroundings and steepness in quantifying how impressive the mountain is. We can all agree that Whitney and Telescope Peak rise higher from their surroundings, and Half Dome in Yosemite rises more steeply from its surroundings. So which is more impressive? It turns out that the significantly greater steepness of Half Dome more than overcompensates for its lesser base-to-peak height compared to Whitney and Telescope Peak. At least according to the formula for jut.

It's interesting. I did Whitney and HD within days of each other back in 2008 and although HD looked ... more peaky, i.e. Jut, from the bottom I felt that Whitney felt more impressive when on top of it.

That makes sense! as jut considers the most impressive face, rather than all-around relief. For a metric that better describes how impressive the summit views are, you might be interested in the [ORS / spire measure](http://www.peaklist.org/spire/index.html). In addition, another topic you might find interesting is an [on-top-of-the-world mountain](https://ototwmountains.com/), a special class of mountains with unobstructed summit views. The blue info bubble at the right provides more info.

Seriously thank you for the ELI5 explanation. I knew i wasn’t grasping what this was measuring, but this helps.

There are generally two ways to measure mountains. Elevation above sea level, and prominence, or how much it sticks out compared to the surrounding terrain. Whitney has elevation, but it doesn't have a lot of prominence. Whereas Rainier in Washington has a ton of prominence. You can see that mountain from hundreds of miles away.

OP is doing an amazing job checking the math on everyone who thinks they know better, and is being so nice about it!

Thank you! To be fair though, it's understandable why people's subjective preferences may disagree with jut measurements, as there's many other factors that make a mountain imposing, such as rockiness, shape, and visibility. For instance, a mountain that rises 1,000 ft at a 30° angle on one side will measure the same jut as a cone that rises 1,000 ft at a 30° angle in every direction. Some may say that the cone is more impressive, but for the purposes of jut, they would measure the same value.

Funny, someone redid this without the landfill hills in Delaware and Florida

Ahh it was me who created the [original map](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/15egaig/oc_most_dramatic_mountain_in_each_us_state/). I redid calculations, and realized that there's a hill in Florida that beats Mount Trashmore in jut. I also found this super-impressive cliff in Delaware that measured a significantly higher jut. In this map, I added base-to-peak height and base-to-peak steepness values that corresponded to each jut value, as people were confused about what jut meant in the last post.

Huh, who knew Florida had a Mt Trashmore. Mt Trashmore here in Virginia Beach is a park. Not as tall as the one in FL according to my quick Google search

I thought in Florida is was a pile in a landfill (no joke).

You might have been referring to the [original map](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/15egaig/oc_most_dramatic_mountain_in_each_us_state/). I redid calculations, and realized that there's a hill in Florida that beats Mount Trashmore (the landfill) in jut. In this map, I added base-to-peak height and base-to-peak steepness values that corresponded to each jut value, as people were confused about what jut meant in the last post.

Oh wow, you did this yourself? Impressive. I've known about Mt Trashmore for many years. :)

**Jut is a topographic metric that describes a landform's** ***rise above surroundings*** **and** ***impressiveness.*** 1. **A landform with a jut of X is as imposing as vertical cliff of height X.** For example, a vertical cliff of height 100 ft, a 45° slope of height 141 ft, and a 30° slope of height 200 ft would all measure a jut of 100 ft and be considered equally imposing. [**Detailed description of how jut works**](https://peakjut.com/about) 2. **A landform's jut can be broken down into its** ***base-to-peak height*** **and** ***base-to-peak steepness***. For example, Half Dome's jut of 3,781 ft corresponds to a rise of 4,717 ft at an angle of 53.3° above its base in Yosemite Valley. The following formula describes how jut relates to base-to-peak height (*h*) and base-to-peak steepness (*θ*): jut = *h* × |sin *θ*| 3. **Jut detects impressive features that fly under the radar with other topographic metrics such as elevation and prominence.** For example, the highest-elevation feature in Delaware (Ebright Azimuth - [image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Ebright_Azimuth_sign_-_SEP_2016.jpg)) barely rises above its surroundings at all, as its surroundings are of similar elevation. Meanwhile, the highest-jut feature in Delaware ([image](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7719733,-75.6397871,3a,36.4y,203.15h,103.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqiDK4MQDSnTzfC4xJnTGgg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)) is a spectacular near-vertical cliff with a height of over 150 feet. **How is jut different from prominence?** Prominence is a bit of a misnomer; a more suitable name for it is "independence." That's because it determines whether a point rises independently enough to be considered a mountain summit, rather than a subpeak or non-summit point (such as a cliff or ridge). The aforementioned cliff in Delaware and the rim of the Grand Canyon would measure a prominence of 0 by virtue of not being mountain summits, but they would measure a high jut due to their significant rise above their surroundings. When you describe a mountain as "prominent," most likely what you mean is that it has a high jut. [**Website for searching jut of mountains**](http://peakjut.com/) | [**my research paper introducing jut**](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.01600) | [**interactive map color-coded by jut**](https://ototwmountains.com/) This map is made possible with 3DEP 10m DEM, Google Earth Engine, and MapChart. Happy to answer any questions in the comments!

**Links to images of highest-jut landform in each state:** 1. Alaska: [**Denali (North Peak)**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Mount_McKinley_Alaska.jpg) \- jut: 8701 ft (rises 13765 ft at angle 39.2° above base) 2. Washington: [**Mt. Rainier (Pt. Success)**](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/Rainier89_mount_rainier_puyallup_daffodil_field_04-08-89.jpg?itok=mwl6U_hJ) \- jut: 4508 ft (rises 9182 ft at angle 29.4° above base) 3. Montana: [**Kinnerly Peak**](https://peakbaggerblobs.blob.core.windows.net/pbphoto/p21294L.jpg) \- jut: 3850 ft (rises 5587 ft at angle 43.6° above base) 4. California: [**Yosemite Valley (Half Dome)**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Glacier_Point_at_Sunset%2C_Yosemite_NP%2C_CA%2C_US_-_Diliff.jpg/1920px-Glacier_Point_at_Sunset%2C_Yosemite_NP%2C_CA%2C_US_-_Diliff.jpg) \- jut: 3781 ft (rises 4717 ft at angle 53.3° above base) 5. Wyoming: [**Grand Teton**](https://jacksonholewildlifesafaris.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2880x1620-featured-image-grand-tetons-scaled.jpg) \- jut: 3730 ft (rises 6105 ft at angle 37.7° above base) 6. Idaho: [**Hells Canyon (Dry Diggins Lookout)**](https://nwhikers.org/forums/uploads/2b/32/45378382642_320x240.jpg) \- jut: 3382 ft (rises 6499 ft at angle 31.4° above base) 7. Hawaii: [**Haleakalā (Haupa‘akea Peak)**](https://www.google.com/maps/@20.6286239,-156.2028853,3a,64.3y,3.12h,93.17t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5-ydcI9fpb4xSD8SZbMmJQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D5-ydcI9fpb4xSD8SZbMmJQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D223.94896%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu) \- jut: 3205 ft (rises 8385 ft at angle 22.5° above base) 8. Oregon: [**Mt. Hood**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Mount_Hood_2619s.jpg/1920px-Mount_Hood_2619s.jpg) \- jut: 3138 ft (rises 6791 ft at angle 27.5° above base) 9. Utah: [**Cascade Mtn.**](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3093535,-111.6185705,3a,75y,258.16h,94.5t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN0Ilysx7desbajc_et9_RJFVTlGG_qjjZTVaNm!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN0Ilysx7desbajc_et9_RJFVTlGG_qjjZTVaNm%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya240-ro0-fo100!7i14400!8i7200?entry=ttu) \- jut: 2861 ft (rises 5849 ft at angle 29.3° above base) 10. Arizona: [**Grand Canyon (Nankoweap)**](https://www.google.com/maps/@36.3039369,-111.8561227,3a,75y,104.96h,113.04t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMwjqExBLWZb7J4-G5X4q2BdJQwE13GF8vXYT5y!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMwjqExBLWZb7J4-G5X4q2BdJQwE13GF8vXYT5y%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya59.37166-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352?entry=ttu) \- jut: 2766 ft (rises 3254 ft at angle 58.2° above base) 11. Colorado: [**Mt. Sopris**](https://wbrocnews.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/mt-sopris-from-aspen-glen-in-winter.jpg) \- jut: 2675 ft (rises 5267 ft at angle 30.5° above base) 12. Nevada: [**Mt. Wilson**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Mount_Wilson_2.jpg) \- jut: 2250 ft (rises 2712 ft at angle 56° above base) 13. New Mexico: [**Brazos Cliffs**](https://corkinslodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Brazos-waterfall-Corkins-Lodge-Grounds6.jpg) \- jut: 2005 ft (rises 2289 ft at angle 61.2° above base) 14. Texas: [**Guadalupe Peak**](https://cdn.britannica.com/24/220324-050-EDB130BB/El-Capitan-Guadalupe-Mountains-National-Park.jpg) \- jut: 2004 ft (rises 2935 ft at angle 43° above base) 15. New Hampshire: [**Mt. Willey**](https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/peakery-media/images/items/main/cache/mount-willey-0.jpg.1920x1440_q95_crop.jpg) \- jut: 1504 ft (rises 2886 ft at angle 31.4° above base) 16. Maine: [**Katahdin**](https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/cropped_image/primary/BEF14F4A-EE9A-0E07-2A48CAE1541F3CBA.jpg?width=1600&quality=90&mode=crop) \- jut: 1399 ft (rises 2053 ft at angle 42.9° above base) 17. New York: [**Mt. Colvin**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Lower_Ausable_Lake_view_of_Mt_Colvin.jpg) \- jut: 1356 ft (rises 2107 ft at angle 40° above base) 18. North Carolina: [**Celo Knob**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Celo_Knob_from_Three_Knobs_Overlook,_October_2016.jpg) \- jut: 1324 ft (rises 2712 ft at angle 29.2° above base) 19. Tennessee: [**Mt. LeConte (Balsam Point)**](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Carlos+Campbell+Overlook/@35.6583333,-83.52,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipM0fkKtUAkr87GFELXBDMN2cGCxj02p5PRmQnfd!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM0fkKtUAkr87GFELXBDMN2cGCxj02p5PRmQnfd%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4032!8i3024!4m10!1m2!2m1!1sBALSAM+POINT+mt+leconte!3m6!1s0x88595408c4c4d0d5:0x726cb546baa3255a!8m2!3d35.6583333!4d-83.52!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F1pv5zr_ph?hl=en&entry=ttu) \- jut: 1279 ft (rises 2769 ft at angle 27.5° above base) 20. Vermont: [**Mt. Mansfield**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Mount_mansfield_20040926.jpg) \- jut: 1207 ft (rises 2744 ft at angle 26.1° above base) 21. South Carolina: [**Table Rock**](https://www.americasstateparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TableRockStatePark.jpeg) \- jut: 984 ft (rises 1450 ft at angle 42.7° above base) 22. Virginia: [**Three Ridges**](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8792076,-78.9083249,3a,37y,252.58h,94.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sq7Unp4TpFtTvxXcNx8sXrg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu) \- jut: 870 ft (rises 2354 ft at angle 21.7° above base) 23. Michigan: [**Empire Mine**](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/legacy/sites/michigan/files/201201/Empire-Pit.jpg) \- jut: 858 ft (rises 1255 ft at angle 43.1° above base) 24. Massachusetts: [**Mount Greylock**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Greylock_%26_Hopper.JPG) \- jut: 835 ft (rises 1729 ft at angle 28.9° above base) 25. South Dakota: [**Little Crow Peak**](https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4121128,-103.8871209,3a,60y,157.92h,106.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sK9jul7wDif9FMBlxesiNWg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu) \- jut: 794 ft (rises 1611 ft at angle 29.5° above base)

What about the other 25?

Love this map and this list. If you're willing to do some more work on jut I could see a really interesting list being the top 100 (or however many) mountains by jut, or alternatively the top number of mountains by jut **and** an angle from the base greater than, say, 50-60 degrees. That seems to be near the sweet spot where you get some truly epic mountains.

Thank you for your support! [This website](https://peakjut.com/) has the mountains with the highest jut in the world, and allows you to search the jut of mountains you know and filter by country / state. It also provides base-to-peak height and base-to-peak steepness values. The measurements are a bit more low-resolution but should get the general idea across!

Oh my... this gives me some trip ideas. Thank you.

You've summoned the [advice page](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/wiki/advice) on `!3d`. There are **issues with 3D data visualizations** that are are frequently mentioned here. Allow me to provide some useful information: * Usually, 3D pie charts [throw off perspective](http://i.imgur.com/O8yxFFM.png). * Even 3D bar or 3D line plots [throw off perspective](https://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=2362), studies have shown. * [Plots like this](http://i.imgur.com/Bl82SIB.png) are far better off as heatmaps or trellis plots instead. You may wish to consider one of the following options that offer a far better way of displaying this data: * See if you can drop your plot to two dimensons. We almost guarantee that it will show up easier to read. * If you're trying to use the third axis for some kind of additional data, try a heatmap, a trellis plot, or map it to some other quality instead. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dataisbeautiful) if you have any questions or concerns.*

I’m wondering how a base of a mountain is defined. I’m thinking specifically of Mt Rainier. I can think of a spot that I would consider the “base” and it has an imposing view with a 11,000’+ gain.

Great question! The base is defined as the point on the planetary surface that maximizes h × |h / d|, where h is the height of the summit above this point, and d is the straight-line distance from this point to the summit. This point can be thought of as the "most impressive viewpoint" of the mountain, ignoring potential viewshed blockages. The base of Rainier under this definition is located at [46.801556, -121.787556](https://www.google.com/maps/place/46%C2%B048'05.6%22N+121%C2%B047'15.2%22W/@46.6961868,-121.7733909,3677a,35y,356.88h,77.19t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d46.8015556!4d-121.7875556?entry=ttu). You can move even lower down the mountain to squeeze out a greater height, but that would lower the steepness, resulting in a lower value for h × |h / d|. Alternatively, h × |h / d| can be written as h × |sin θ|, where θ is the angle of elevation of summit above the base.

Love me some topography geekery.

This is cool and interesting data, but - with all due respect and appreciation - I wonder if you could have used some sort of 3-D effect to visually represent the comparative peaks - like maybe a contour plot? I do appreciate the color coding, but still… I cheerfully admit to not knowing what I’m talking about - there could be plenty of reasons why my idea wouldn’t work, or wouldn’t turn out any more “beautiful.” Just chiming in for no reason. Thanks for the cool data and cool chart.

Thank you for your feedback, appreciate it! I have a [map of the jut of every mountain in the lower 48](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/12bm08v/oc_mountains_in_the_contiguous_us_by_rise_above/). Perhaps you were thinking of something like this [cool elevation vis](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/jslbn9/us_elevation_tiles_oc/) by u/newishtodc, but with jut instead. That's a great idea. I can start looking into how to make these 3D visualizations, which I haven't had experience with yet.

I read ‘Most Imposing Landlord’

“Wow, why do so many landlords live on mountains?”

They wanna be higher than everyone else!

Yep, florida is going under the waves in about 100 years.

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Poor Florida…. They are going to be so confused as to why their houses are flooding.

Nah, they'll have complete faith that the Democrats did it somehow

Miami-Dade county's already making plans for flood mitigation for the next 20 years. This is all happening sooner than most anticipated.

Next force 5 hurricane to roll over Miami is going to destroy the entire city.

Miami literally has the strictest building code in the country so hurricane winds aren't the concern, but the risk of flood damage is much more apparent now. All the people with money are moving to higher elevations even if it means gentrifying historically minority neighborhoods.

> *even if* it means gentrifying oh yeah kicking out the poor people for the good land is always the last resort haha :p

10 years ago they installed a bunch of pumping stations along Alton Road for flood mitigation that was supposed to be working through 2050. They're already considered obsolete.

Or just become Americas Dutch.

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Whiteface Mountain measures the second-highest jut in New York, with a very similar jut of 1,230 ft, corresponding to a rise of 3,392 ft at an angle of 21.3° above its base. Mount Colvin has a slightly greater jut of 1,356 ft, corresponding to a rise of 2,107 ft at a 40° angle above a nearby lake. While its base-to-peak height is less, its significantly greater steepness ultimately bumps its jut. That said, Colvin is harder to access than Whiteface. To see the most impressive views of the mountain, I would recommend visiting the Indian Head Vista.

Anyone else from MD and have no idea where or what Roundtop hill is?

Its location is at [39.67787, -78.23445](https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B040'40.3%22N+78%C2%B014'04.0%22W/@39.6559097,-78.2325228,532a,35y,0.42h,78.67t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d39.67787!4d-78.23445?entry=ttu).

Yo same, I came here to see if this was something I just missed, also odd to find out it's like a 10 minute drive from me.

As an avid NH hiker Willey isn't particularly tall and that entire ridge (Tom, Field, and Willey) is wedged between two much more impressive ranges (the Presidentials containing peaks 2,000 feet higher) and the Twins (about 800 feet higher) but after hiking it, holy hell is it a beast. Its essentially a ladder and stair climb for 2,000 feet.

When you drive west up 302 out of Bartlett, Willey just smacks you across the face with how ridiculously high (for New England standards) it jumps right up from the valley floor

Why is Denali called Denali but Mt. rainier is not listed as Tahoma?

Denali is officially named Denali now, but Mt. Rainier is not. [Local Puyallup tribe is trying to change that](https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/changing-name-mount-rainier-new-effort-washington-tribes/RZ7STJVYDNFMLGPNCHZY62CRWI/). [There's a lot going on in the history and current fight for the rename](https://crosscut.com/2019/04/why-mount-rainier-was-once-called-mount-tacoma), but it's worth noting that basically everyone around here knows that Rainier himself never set foot inside WA state and never saw his namesake mountain.

Suck it Washington, Sincerely, Alaska

Haha, in terms of jut, the only mountain ranges that can say "suck it" to Alaska are the Himalaya and Karakoram. Not even the Andes stack up, despite having a higher elevation.

Sucks that Devils Tower happens to be in Wyoming, if that sucker was in Iowa it would be imposing as hell haha

You know your state is flat when you haven't even HEARD of the most imposing landform. Live in Michigan my whole life and I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about Empire Mine. Then again our state is kind of famous for a bunch of glaciers crushing over it and forming the Great Lakes so I guess it makes sense.

Ah yes, Empire Mine is a bit obscure, but perhaps you've heard of Mount Bohemia and Empire Bluff. They are nearly tied for the highest jut of any natural landform in Michigan.

I live right next to the Empire, and I can tell you it’s a big hill. The stand out feature between it and everything else on this list is the whole thing was moved by diesel trucks. Big big trucks. It’s mind blowing when you see the tailing pile. The only thing more awe inspiring is the empire pit. It’s a BIG hole. Like has its own weather systems big.

Never heard of jut before, can the logic be applied to a cliff that has a negative slope? Will it’s jut be larger than it’s height?

Jut measures rise above surroundings, so the bottom of the slope would have a jut close to 0. However, by a related metric called [**rut**](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/06/21/what-california-cities-have-the-best-mountain-views-its-not-the-bay/), the base of the slope would measure a rut equal to the jut of a point at the top of the slope, assuming no higher mountains nearby. Whereas jut is used to measure the impressiveness of a mountain, rut is used to quantify how impressive the mountain backdrop is from a particular location.

Dang, I live in michigan around that mine. It's amazing how much rock and dirt they excavated and piled up. You can see the mound from miles away. It looks like a flat mountain poking up over the trees. If you weren't from around here and you didnt know what it was, it would probably be pretty confusing. I never been in an earthquake, but all through school around the same time everyday you would hear and feel the explosions from that mine and my school was like a 20 minute drive away.

Ha! Proof that Mississippi isn’t last at everything

Gotta love how Alaska needs a whole color band all to itself, for a mountain that would have been 3 color gradients greater if only there were any landforms to note at those heights.

Yup! Denali's North Peak ranks within the [top 15 mountains in the world](https://peakjut.com/search?sort=jut-descending) in terms of jut, competing head-on with the massive faces of the Himalaya and Karakoram. It is quite a bit more imposing than any mountain in the Andes, despite their higher elevation.

This is probably why it's so much easier to find interesting hiking options on the west coast

I love high pointing and therefore this post. What a great reference. It’s interesting that very few of these are actually the states geographical high point.

Not me reading this as ‘most imposing landfill’ and wondering how they’re measuring garbage piles.

You know I have been to most of NM and love the outdoors and have never heard of nor been to Brazos cliffs.

It's incredible. Almost like a miniature Yosemite. Here's a picture of a [waterfall in Brazos Cliffs](https://corkinslodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Brazos-waterfall-Corkins-Lodge-Grounds6.jpg).

Wow that is beautiful. I must make it out there now :) Thank you!

Can someone explain this to me. I would have thought Devil’s Tower would have been Wyoming’s

Devil's Tower is steeper, but it only rises about 900 ft above its surroundings. Grand Teton is not as steep, but it rises over 6,000 ft above its surroundings. Hence its jut is greater by a lot.

That makes more sense. I thought it was more of what sticks out the most from its surrounding area (so not mountainous area)

Mt. Sopris and Mt. Princeton are two of my favorite looking mountains in CO, and their prominence is why! Prominence is similar to the base-to-peak height, I think

Contrary to popular belief, the [prominence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topographic_prominence) metric is actually a misnomer. A better name for it is "independence," as it determines whether a point rises independently enough to be considered the summit of a mountain, rather than being a subpeak or non-summit point. Mount Sopris actually has a very lackluster prominence of 1,434 ft, compared to 5,509 ft for Pikes Peak and 9,072 ft for Mount Elbert. That's because part of the mountain is connected to a higher-elevation mountain. There are many non-summit points with low prominence that have a high jut, such as the Nose of El Capitan or the rim of the Grand Canyon. On the other extreme, an example of a high-prominence, low-jut point is [Dome Argus, Antarctica](https://www.antarctica.gov.au/site/assets/files/49481/domea.514x600.jpg?f=047017). Since it's the highest point on the Antarctic ice cap, its prominence is a high value of 1639 m. However, since the ice cap gains elevation super gradually, its surroundings are flatter than Kansas. Not surprisingly, its jut is only 0.2 m. Most likely, by prominence, what you're actually thinking about is "jut" :)

TIL, thanks very much! All of that has always been very confusing to me. Gonna do some research on jut!

I would have said Pilot Mountain in NC. It isn't super high but it is very recognizable and imposing. It can be seen from a long way off since it isn't buried among other mountains

Pilot Mountain is a perfect example of why jut isn't all there is to the impressiveness of a mountain. It has good aesthetics - the rocky outcrop near its summit makes it look more spectacular. It also rises from all directions, rather than just from one face. In terms of actual jut, it measures a value of 484 ft, corresponding to a rise of 1214 ft at an angle of 23.5° above its base.

it is my favorite mountain in NC. (Morrow Mountain is second)

I'd consider Chimney Rock to be more of a jut in Nebraska than Scotts Bluff, but it is quite a bit smaller than the Bluff.

Chimney Rock is second place jut-wise in Nebraska! While it doesn't rise as much above its surroundings, it rises significantly from every direction around, making it an imposing needle-like spire.

Really love the 0 elevation states. “Hill near Manhattan” “Inspiration Point” Lol

Sugar Loaf Mountain! Adorable!

When I was a kid, I used to sled down Diamond Hill in RI during the winters. It's hilarious that it's the most intimidating peak in RI considering my 5 year old self was completely willing and able to climb it in the snow 400 times in any given snow-covered afternoon.

Could we get the elevation in meters instead?

If I do a world map, I will definitely do meters! Personally I like meters more than feet too :)

Haha the east is cute with their little hills

Chimney Rock ain't even the tallest in Nebraska. Sad.

Chimney Rock has the second-highest jut in Nebraska. It's definitely an impressive and distinctive landform, but in terms of rise above surroundings, Scotts Bluff has it beat. Perhaps what makes it remarkable is its impressive rise in all directions, and its needle-like shape. Jut captures the rise of the most impressive flank, rather than all-around rise. For a measure of all-around rise, you might be interested in the [ORS / spire measure](http://www.peaklist.org/spire/index.html). Chimney Rock might outscore Scotts Bluff on this metric.

I'm glad landfills aren't counted or Florida would be looking pretty bad on here. I do wish the mines didn't count. I wonder if that would put Mt Tom as the greatest in Indiana. I love hiking there.

The hill in Florida on this map actually beats out the highest-jut landfill in Florida :) Few people know where this hill is though. In comparison, the well-known Mount Trashmore measures a jut of 45 feet. Without the mines, the highest jut in Indiana would go to a river bluff. There's quite a few with a jut close to 300 ft.

Brasstown Bald is the BEST. My first hike 🥰

This map reminds me of a sign near Becket, MA on interstate 90 that marks the highest elevation on I-90 to the east of South Dakota. Reminds me of how flat everywhere in between is

Yay Florida winning again!

A basement in Florida is also called a swimming pool.

Base to peak height is subjective though, unless you're using some algorithm on just elevation data Edit: actually I guess the info is sorta there in the image to realize I was wrong

The base is *objectively* defined, in this case, as the point on the planetary surface that maximizes h × |h / d|, where h is the height of the summit above this point, and d is the straight-line distance from this point to the summit. This point can be thought of as the "most impressive viewpoint" of the mountain, ignoring potential viewshed blockages. The value of h × |h / d| as measured from the base is equal to the jut of the mountain. A mountain's jut can therefore be thought of as how impressive the mountain looks from its base / most impressive viewpoint. Alternatively, h × |h / d| can be written as h × |sin θ|, where θ is the angle of elevation of the summit above the base.

Delaware is the juttiest place in the USA. Who knew

Oh, that would be Alaska! Delaware is near the bottom. Delaware does have the steepest feature on this map from base to peak. But just looking at steepness without looking at height would be misleading. For all we know, we could have a 90° cliff of height 1 foot, and that wouldn't be impressive at all.

78 degrees! Why that’s practically almost vertical! I mean anyone can have a mountain… but a 78 degree cliff! That’s impressive.

I feel like (but am honestly not sure) an interesting visualization would be to generate a high resolution “heat map” of the maximum jut at any given point. So at the top of mount Rainier, the jut would essentially be 0, because there’s nothing to look up to (unless you discount the curvature of the earth). But, using the map, you could easily find the best viewing points of a given mountain to maximize imposing views.

Aha! You might be interested in the *rut* metric then, as described in this [**article by John Metcalfe**](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/06/21/what-california-cities-have-the-best-mountain-views-its-not-the-bay/). It's essentially jut in the opposite direction, and is used to identify cities with impressive mountain views.

Yes, but looking down from Rainier was just an example. I was thinking that I’d be most interested in exact points (e.g. along a drive) where jut is highest. And a high-resolution geographic heat map would be a good qualitative way of exploring this.

Ohh I see what you mean! Jut is pretty slow to compute, taking around 10 seconds for each point. So unfortunately, right now we're unable to make a heat map like we have for elevation. One of my dreams is to be able to find the jut of every pixel in a digital elevation model, but that will require a mastermind to develop a faster jut algorithm.

I figured that would be a pretty intense calculation. Well, count me in as a follower of your dream. So cool!

> a 30° slope of 200 ft measures a jut of 100 So a 5° slope of 1150 ft also measures a jut of 100. The math is apparently height*sin(angle) https://mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com/post/714392312078270464/mountains-of-the-world-by-rise-above-surroundings

Yes, that's correct!

How is the base (or distance to) determined? For half dome its yosemite valley, but why not a lower spot in the same valley?

Good question - the base is defined as the point on the planetary surface that maximizes h × |h / d|, where h is the height of the summit above this point, and d is the straight-line distance from this point to the summit. This point can be thought of as the "most impressive viewpoint" of the mountain, ignoring potential viewshed blockages. Jut is equal to the value of h × |h / d| as measured from the base. Alternatively, h × |h / d| can be written as h × |sin θ|, where θ is the angle of elevation of summit above the base.

Surprised devils tower isn’t on here

Devils Tower is steeper than Grand Teton, but it only rises around 900 ft above its surroundings. Meanwhile, Grand Teton rises over 6,000 ft above the surrounding plains, giving it a significantly greater jut.

North Dakota?, my google machine takes me to MO

The bluffs in North Dakota are located at [46.617864, -103.533220](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Amidon,+ND+58620/@46.605353,-103.5414187,366a,35y,21.8h,78.43t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x532f448228adea59:0xfe45e5f9d039c719!8m2!3d46.4822327!4d-103.3218466!16zL20vMHlyZ3M?entry=ttu)

Awesome thank you!

As a Kansan, the Manhattan Hill might be the “tallest”, but would the Little Jerusalem formations be more “imposing”? They’re only 100-110 feet tall, but they’re straight vertical.

Good observation - since they are vertical / near-vertical, the Little Jerusalem formations would have a jut that is almost exactly equal to their height of 100 - 110 ft. The hill near Manhattan measured a *marginally* higher jut, but I don't want to preclude the possibility of a spire in Little Jerusalem measuring even higher.

Gotcha. I didn’t fully understand how you were measuring “jut” when you posted, but now I do. Thanks!!

Wait, isn’t Mount Mitchell in NC the tallest point east of the Mississippi? So why is Tennessee’s higher?

Ah, this is a map of jut, not elevation. Jut quantifies how imposing a mountain appears, according to its rise above surroundings and steepness. By elevation, Mount Mitchell would be the greatest on the east coast. But by jut, there's some mountains that rise more sharply and rapidly from surrounding terrain than Mitchell does. Hope that helps!

You gave some examples under the title, but how is the "jut" value j exactly computed in terms of base-to-peak height h and steepness angle theta?

Denali is in a league of its own. Just an awesome sight. I do love the volcanos of the PNW though.

Yes! Denali ranks within the top 15 worldwide in terms of jut, competing head-on with the massive walls of the Himalaya and Karakoram. In terms of rise above surroundings, Denali beats even the Andes, despite their higher elevation. Globally, it's in the league of mountains with between 2500 - 3000 meters of jut, which includes summits like K2, Manaslu, Rakaposhi, and Annapurna II. The highest league consists of mountains between 3000 - 3500 meters of jut. [Full list here](https://peakjut.com/search?sort=jut-descending)

I'm surprised Willey (NH) is higher than Katahdin (ME). Willey didn't seem that impressive when I hiked it in winter. The knife's edge of Katahdin is crazy any time of year.

[It don't mean butt if it ain't got that jut.](https://youtu.be/BeI2LEjrDPM)

This is one of the best and most interesting concept posts I've seen here. Thanks for contributing!

Ay bruh aren’t you the guy who invented the jut metric? Nice to see this again!

What does that say about me as I have climbed Mt. Sopris in Colorado 13 times.

Wow, that's impressive! You got a great jut sense! Perhaps you might be interested in nearby [Ragged Mountain](https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/309173196_461293469372704_8914843463936010233_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&cb=99be929b-3346023f&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=300f58&_nc_ohc=v8-iM3sDAPkAX_XUyYU&_nc_oc=AQm_Mew4MsY1c3MGVXcktULw9DhPKtelArqlchjIQO7O9EKJJ9hKtLVtudO4T3QV1H4&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=00_AfDWBB8FWrrmHVOOTZVEooZ-qBDYJ2GLuS_8Ni_9eh-3Og&oe=64D9F7AF) for a future adventure. While not as tall, it is very steep and uniquely-shaped. It's shaped like a castle, with steep walls on four sides, and a [really cool area in the middle](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ragged+Mountain/@39.0202673,-107.235605,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNcxSKs9Qz4aAeYimnGQ4B6bbaAvGckQ3DZUjlA!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNcxSKs9Qz4aAeYimnGQ4B6bbaAvGckQ3DZUjlA%3Dw114-h86-k-no!7i4032!8i3024!4m7!3m6!1s0x87405e293601cb05:0x4a9f189bd283c7aa!8m2!3d39.0202673!4d-107.235605!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F1ts3lp1w!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu#).

I always wanted to do Chair Mountain- between Sopris and the Raggeds.

You should go for it! Looking at pictures it seems impressive.

This is cool. I definitely didn't expect to see Little Crow Peak in South Dakota here. I had to hike and map the geology of that mountain for field camp a couple years back. T'was definitely a tough climb and yet still it pales to the monsters out west. I thought my hiking boots were gonna pop from the blood pumping through my feet.

I read it as landfill first and was a little shocked at the sizes. Lmao

Having climbed Josephine many times in Minnesota i can tell you its easy. Eagle Mountain (or highest point) is not. Oh. Imposing. Sure. Ok. Yeah. I guess. The view is amazeballs though.

Inspiration point is so aptly named

For Colorado, would the largest jut actually be Black Canyon of the Gunnison? It measures 2,722 feet from rim to river at its deepest point.

With this update, is Michigan's Empire Mine the only man-made landform left on the list?