The highest summits you can walk to?

[DirtNap]

After a dreary morning lost in the realm of Wikipedia, I have a really random question...

I'm curious if anyone has information about the highest mountains both in the US and abroad in which the summit can be reached by hiking or moderate scrambling with no permanent snow cover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojos_del_Salado

I was fascinated to find that, at least in summer, you could walk up this 22,615ft peak without rope or traction.

Does anyone know of a higher mountain with a dry summit and non-technical routes, even if its just seasonal?

They certainly seem like cheats you could put on your climbing resume.

Thanks for any input.

 

[--M.]

What an amazing piece of terrain! Even the local low-points (the access road, for example) are at 4000 meters. The topography rises incredibly steeply from the coast to the volcanic bumps, which then extend as individual mounts and ridges. Now, are the ridges eroded or thrust up (Catskills or Whites)? You can't really think of it that way, but one needs something to hang a geological hat on.

Great idea! I love walking high ridgelines and elevated terrain (like the plateaus around Washington, Moriah, Hale or Guyot), and anyplace I can get to without a harness and a year's training sounds cool.

There were passable roads (both paved and dirt) in Sicily right up the ridgelines to very close to the highpoints (about 700-1000 meters, look at the roads around Pellegrino, near Milazzo). It was cool to go from the coast to the mountains so quickly by foot (wow, that was hot!). Of course you also get a really awesome local cultural presence as well. See the film "Patton," with regard to how Sicily plays in the history of the Mediterranean.

So where can one go right here like that? Half Dome qualifies, as does pretty much most of the Northeast, but there's a lot of awesome walking across the U.S. I'm looking forward to getting a Rocky Mountain jones satisfied in Montana or Alberta. Good stuff!

 

[Brambor]

Anything above 10000 feet and I am sucking wind. 24000 feet is no fun.