North America’s tallest peaks are dominated by Alaska, home to 17 of the 20 highest summits in the United States alone, with the towering, glacier-covered Alaska Range and Saint Elias Mountains claiming most of the continent’s record-setting elevations. Rounding out the list are Mexico’s dramatic volcanic giants, which bring a completely different geological character to North America’s high-altitude landscape.
1. Denali — 6,190 meters (20,310 feet)
Denali, located in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, is the undisputed highest peak in North America and one of the world’s Seven Summits. Its name comes from the Koyukon Athabaskan language and means “The Tall One,” a fitting title given that Denali is also considered the tallest mountain in the world when measured from base to peak on land, rising roughly 18,000 feet from its surrounding terrain. The mountain’s official elevation was revised in 2015 using modern GPS survey technology, settling the long-debated height at 20,310 feet after decades of using an older 1953 measurement.
2. Mount Logan — 5,959 meters (19,551 feet)
Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada, located in the Saint Elias Mountains near the Alaska-Yukon border within Kluane National Park and Reserve. It’s remarkable not just for its height but its sheer bulk—Logan is thought to have the largest base circumference of any non-volcanic mountain on Earth, spanning roughly 25 miles and comprising a massive complex of 12 individual peaks. Due to ongoing tectonic activity beneath it, Mount Logan is still growing at a rate of about 0.35 millimeters per year.
3. Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl) — 5,636 meters (18,491 feet)
Mexico’s highest peak and the highest volcano in North America, Pico de Orizaba sits on the border of Veracruz and Puebla states as a dramatic stratovolcano rising above the surrounding tropical lowlands. The mountain held deep cultural significance for pre-Hispanic civilizations, featuring in mythology from both the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs and the Totonac people. Orizaba ranks 7th in the world for topographic prominence and hosts Mexico’s largest glacier, the Gran Glaciar Norte, along with eight smaller ice masses.
4. Mount Saint Elias — 5,489 meters (18,008 feet)
Straddling the Alaska-Yukon border, Mount Saint Elias is the second-highest peak in both the United States and Canada, and is especially notable for its extreme vertical relief—it rises the full 5,489 meters within just 16 kilometers of horizontal distance. The mountain’s difficult routes and persistently poor weather mean very few climbers attempt its summit even today, despite the first successful ascent dating back to 1897.
5. Popocatépetl — 5,426 meters (17,802 feet)
Mexico’s second-highest volcano, Popocatépetl remains one of the country’s most active, with eruptions continuing into recent years, including a 2019 event that sent ash roughly 1.5 kilometers into the air. The mountain once carried glaciers on its upper flanks, but increased volcanic activity between 1990 and 2001 caused all of that ice to melt entirely, a striking marker of how active volcanism has reshaped the peak’s appearance over just a few decades.
6. Mount Foraker — 5,304 meters (17,400 feet)
Mount Foraker rises directly above the Kahiltna Glacier base camp used by climbers attempting Denali, located just 14 miles southwest of North America’s tallest peak within the Alaska Range. Though often overshadowed by its famous neighbor, Foraker presents its own serious mountaineering challenge and was first successfully climbed by Charles Houston and Graham Brown.
7. Mount Lucania — Approximately 5,226 meters (17,146 feet)
Located in the Saint Elias Mountains of the Yukon, Mount Lucania is one of the more remote peaks on this list, requiring a significant approach through glaciated wilderness even before the technical climbing begins.
8. King Peak — Approximately 5,173 meters (16,972 feet)
Also within the Saint Elias Mountains, King Peak sits close to Mount Logan and shares the same rugged, heavily glaciated character that defines this cluster of Yukon-Alaska border peaks.
9. Mount Bona — 5,044 meters (16,550 feet)
Named by the Duke of the Abruzzi after his racing yacht during his 1897 Mount Saint Elias expedition, Mount Bona wasn’t successfully climbed until 1930. Located within the Saint Elias Mountains, it feeds ice into both the Klutlan and Russell Glaciers and remains a popular destination for mountaineering, skiing, and snowboarding in Alaska’s remote backcountry.
10. Mount Steele — Approximately 5,073 meters (16,644 feet)
Rounding out the top ten, Mount Steele sits within the same Saint Elias Mountains cluster in the Yukon that dominates so much of this list, reflecting just how concentrated North America’s highest terrain really is within this single glacier-carved mountain range spanning the Alaska-Canada border.
A Continent Defined by Two Very Different Mountain Types
What stands out across this list is the contrast between Alaska and Yukon’s massive, glacier-covered peaks—shaped by tectonic uplift and ongoing mountain-building—and Mexico’s dramatic stratovolcanoes, which owe their height and shape to volcanic activity along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Both regions produce genuinely serious mountaineering challenges, but the climbing experience differs substantially: expect extreme cold, remote glacier travel, and severe weather in the north, versus high-altitude volcanic terrain and thinner air in central Mexico.
Join The Discussion
Have you climbed or visited any of these peaks, whether in Alaska’s remote wilderness or among Mexico’s volcanic giants? What draws you more—the technical glacier routes of the Saint Elias Mountains, or the accessible high-altitude volcanoes of central Mexico? Share your experiences, questions, or mountaineering aspirations below.
