Comparing The Highest Peak on Mars With Earth’s Tallest Mountains

Earth has a lot of incredibly tall, mountainous peaks.

There is a common reference to the tallest mountains on each 7 continents called the Seven Summits. These consist of:

• Mt. Everest 29,032 ft (8,850 m) in Asia.
• Aconcagua 22,841 ft (6,962 m) in South America.
• Denali / McKinley 20,320 ft (6,190 m) in North America.
• Kilimanjaro 19,340 ft (5,895 m) in Africa.
• Mt. Elbrus 18,510 ft (5,642 m) in Europe.
• Puncak Jaya/ Mt. Carstensz 16,024 ft (4,884 m) in Oceania.
• Mt. Vinson 16,050 ft (4,892 m) in Antarctica.

Designer Audree Lapierre showcases the height of these peaks with the handsome infographic below. We see the texture of each mountain, overlapped with their respective height to one another.

So, thinking of these Seven beautiful peaks made us think about the tallest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons is absolutely enormous, not just in height but in size, with a footprint that is over 370 miles wide.

It is formed as a shield volcano, meaning it has a very gentle rise to the top, unlike the sharp, jagged rise of peaks like Denali or Everest. Nevertheless, it’s the tallest of all the planets in our solar system.

To showcase the massive scale of Olympus Mons, we amended the infographic, showing how Mars’ tallest peak fits into the scenario.  Take a look below. Long story short, it makes Everest look like a ski hill. It’s more than twice the height of the tallest mountain on earth, reaching 13.6 miles into the Martian sky.

When humans finally set foot on Mars, will we visit Olympus Mons? What will it feel like to be on such an amazing place? 🚀

Original graphic by Audree Lapierre of FFunction.