The highest elevation summit, Mount Everest, shown with a climber at the summit wearing an oxygen mask. The summit is 8850 m (29,035 ft) elevation. (While the cruising altitude of jetliners is roughly 10,000 m (32,808 feet), they are pressurized.)
View from the summit of Switzerland's highest, Monte Rosa
The term "summit" is generally only used for a mountain peak with some significant amount of topographic prominence (height above the lowest point en route to the nearest higher peak) or topographic isolation (distance from the nearest point of higher elevation); for example, a boulder next to the main summit of a mountain is not considered a summit. Summits near a higher peak, with some prominence or isolation, but not reaching a certain cutoff value for these quantities, are often considered subsummits (or subpeaks) of the higher peak, and are considered as part of the same mountain. The UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres (98 ft) or more; it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres (980 ft). This can be summarised as follows:
Term
Prominence
Isolation
Subpeak
< 30 m
? m
Independent peak or summit
30 m or more
? m
Mountain
300 m or more
? m
A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top. Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route.