10 curiosities about the world’s summits that will leave you breathless

1. Gangkhar Puensum: The World’s Highest Unconquered Peak

Deep in the Bhutanese Himalayas rises Gangkhar Puensum, 7,570 meters high, with no confirmed ascents. Since 1994, climbing any mountain above 6,000 meters has been prohibited, and in 2003, this ban was extended to all peaks for spiritual reasons, respecting their status as the abodes of gods and spirits.

The mountain has been the subject of several unsuccessful expeditions (1985 and 1986), but a subsequent law definitively closed its possibility of ascent. This decision reflects the Bhutanese people’s deep respect for the sacred, considered more important than any alpine glory.

2. The “lowest” mountain above sea level: Tolbachik Volcanic Island (Russia)

There are emerging volcanoes that barely rise a few meters above sea level after eruptions. A notable example is the submarine volcano Tolbachik in Kamchatka, which during some eruptions forms temporary islands just centimeters or a few meters high. Although ephemeral, they represent key peaks that, technically, are “summits” barely visible above the sea.

3. Mount Catherine, Egypt: A Peak Where Extreme Heat Blows

Located in the Sinai, Mount Catherine is 2,629 m high and is associated with one of the hottest climates among mountains. During the summer months, temperatures in the area exceed 30°C at the base and hover around 20°C at the summit.

This extreme thermal condition makes the climb a very different experience from a typical snowy mountain: instead of cold and wind, we find dry heat and intense sunshine, making this peak a global climate outlier.

4. Damāvand (Iran): Ritual Silence at the Sacred Dawn

Mount Damāvand is a dormant stratovolcano at 5,610 meters above sea level, marking the highest point in the Elburz Mountains range. Located in Iran, it is also the highest peak in the Middle East and the highest volcano in Asia.

Damavand holds a little-known tradition: climbers avoid speaking during sunrise, for fear of “awakening spirits” or violating the mystique of the place.

Besides its literal significance—it is the highest peak in Iran—Damavand is a national symbol, featured in poems and legends (such as Arash Kamangir) and considered the abode of cosmic powers.

5. Cerro Negro (Nicaragua): A Volcano That Rises in Decades

The conical Cerro Negro, one of Nicaragua’s most active volcanoes, was formed in 1850 and has grown an average of tens of meters with each eruption for 140 years.

For example, during the 1992 eruption, its cone grew by 50 m, and during the 1999 outbreak, a continuous series of explosions, flows, and ballistic fragments occurred. It is a mountain that reshapes itself with each volcanic pulse.

6. Teide (Spain): Imposing oceanic peak on a marine mantle

The PeakofTeide, in Tenerife, reaches 3,718 m above sea level, but if measured from its volcanic base, under the Atlantic Ocean, its total height is approximately 7,500 m.

This makes it the third highest volcanic structure in the world, behind only Hawaiian volcanoes. Its location, surrounded by sea, gives it the title of highest oceanic peak in terms of surface area, which adds poetic power to its elevation.

7. Mount Chimborazo (Ecuador): the closest point to the sun

Chimborazo, at 6,263 m, is not the highest mountain above sea level, but due to the Earth’s equatorial bulge, it is the furthest point from the Earth’s center and therefore the closest to the sun.

This means that its summit, due to its equatorial inclination, is about 2,160 m closer to the sun than Everest’s, although both reach different altitudes above sea level.

8. Mount Kilimanjaro: The Peak That Exports Ice to the Sea… Literally

Kilimanjaro, with its retreating glaciers, produces a curious ecological cycle: the ice that melts at its summit feeds rivers that flow to the Indian Ocean.

These glaciers, although threatened by climate change (possibly disappearing by 2040), continue to regulate an entire water system that supplies crops and communities at high altitude and also disperses water to the coast.

9. Mount Everest: Altitude and Pressure, the “Lightest” Air on the Planet

At the summit of Mount Everest (8,849 m), the atmospheric pressure is only 33% of that at sea level, meaning that a liter of air there contains 30% less oxygen than, for example, in La Paz (4,000 m).

This extreme thinning makes its atmosphere the lightest on the planet, creating the so-called “death zone,” where the human body cannot sustain itself without artificial aid.

10. Makalu (Nepal-China): the peak whose inclination defies the vertical

At 8,485 m, Makalu stands out not only for its altitude, but also for its almost perfect pyramidal shape, with faces that form extremely steep angles. This makes it one of the most aesthetically pleasing—and dangerous—mountains in the Himalayas.

Although not as famous as Everest, its impeccably geometric appearance makes it a first-rate technical challenge and a natural masterpiece of Himalayan orography.

At Top Summits of the World, we believe that mountains surprise us not only for their height or beauty, but for the mysteries and phenomena they contain. From divine roofs that are impossible to ascend, to peaks that rise in minutes, each of these curiosities teaches us to look beyond the slope of the terrain: there are mountains that speak of culture, science, nature and, above all, of our capacity for wonder.