From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The New England Fifty Finest is a list of mountains in New England, used in the mountaineering sport of peak bagging. The list comprises the fifty summits with the highest topographic prominence — a peak's height above the lowest contour which encloses that peak and no higher peak.

This list differs substantially from lists of peaks by elevation, such as the New England 4000 Footers. For instance, Mount Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire's Presidential Range, has an elevation above sea level of 6,288 feet (1,917 metres). It has a prominence of about 6,150 ft (1,875 m), because it stands that high above its key col — the lowest ground on the ridge line connecting Washington to the higher peaks of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Washington's key col happens to be at the Champlain Canal in New York, the lowest ground on the water divide between the watersheds of the Hudson and Saint Lawrence Rivers. None of the other peaks of the Presidential Range are on this list because, while several have elevations above 5,000 ft (1,520 m), none have prominences of even 1,000 ft (300 m), because they are connected to Washington by ridge lines that are nowhere below 4,900 ft (1,490 m).

Of the 48 New Hampshire Four-thousand Footers, only eight are also on this list, including Mount Lafayette and Carter Dome — the high points of the Franconia Range and Carter-Moriah Range respectively. On the other hand, the list includes several monadnocks, including the eponymous Mount Monadnock, and the high points of several small mountain ranges — mountains which have high prominence by virtue of their isolation from higher peaks by surrounding low ground.

The list includes 14 peaks in Vermont, 14 in New Hampshire, 21 in Maine, and Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.

1. ^ Measurements of prominence generally have less precision than those of elevation, since the elevations of the key cols are seldom surveyed, and must be estimated from the contour lines above and below on topographic maps. The values in this table are intermediate between the maximum possible ("optimistic") and minimum possible ("clean") prominences. The values are rounded off to the nearest 10 feet or 5 metres unless known more precisely. The determination of precise values would require only minor alterations in the order of the list — with one exception.
   
   
2. ^ Caribou Mountain's elevation is in the range of 3,640–60 ft, so it may be higher or lower than Kibby Mountain (3,354 ft). Whichever of them is higher has a prominence of about 2,260 ft (690 m). The other stands only about 1,220 ft (370 m) above the lowest point on the ridge line between them — well below the lowest prominence on the list.

• Northeast 111 4000-footers
• New England Hundred Highest
• New England Four-thousand footers
• Adirondack Forty-sixers

• Most Prominent Peaks in New England, compiled by Roy Schweiker and Andy Martin
• PeakBagger.com: Northeast USA Peaks with 2000 feet of Prominence
• Map: "Northeastern US Mountains (New York and New England) Showing Peaks with 2,000 Feet of Prominence" by Aaron Maizlish, (2003)