This is a list of the Top 50 highest volcanoes in the world.
They are all in South America. The highest volcano outside of South America is Kilimanjaro, which fails to make the list by a mere 67m of elevation.
In order to keep the list manageable, I have imposed a prominence cut-off of 600m. In other words, to make the list, each mountain must have at least 600m of topographic prominence. I accept that this might be an arbitrary number. But the cut-off must be fixed somewhere so as to exclude any volcano that is of insignificant merit.
To climb all the volcanoes in this list would be an interesting challenge. I am not sure that anyone is actually undertaking this challenge, but an indication is available via this link. I am aware of a few people who are looking to climb all 6000m peaks in South America. Climbing the Top 50 highest volcanoes in the world would be a by-product of this challenge.
The mountains in this list make up more than half of South America’s 6000m peaks. Only four of them fail to hit the 6000m mark.
So here is the list. As of 2022, I have climbed four of them. Details of the date of each of my climbs are in the list):
Peak | Rank | Elev-M | Ascent Date | Prom-M | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ojos del Salado | 1 | 6893 | 3rd December 2014 | 3685 | Chile/Argentina |
Monte Pissis | 2 | 6793 | 2147 | Argentina | |
Tres Cruces | 3 | 6748 | 1424 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerro Llullaillaco | 4 | 6739 | 2346 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerro Cazadero | 5 | 6663 | 659 | Argentina | |
Tres Cruces Central | 6 | 6631 | 622 | Chile | |
Cerro de Incahuasi | 7 | 6621 | 1520 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerro Tupungato | 8 | 6573 | 2768 | Chile/Argentina | |
Nevado Sajama | 9 | 6542 | 28th July 2022 | 2428 | Bolivia |
El Muerto | 10 | 6502 | 968 | Chile/Argentina | |
Volcán Antofalla | 11 | 6440 | 1957 | Argentina | |
Veladero | 12 | 6436 | 1116 | Argentina | |
El Cóndor | 13 | 6414 | 1660 | Argentina | |
Nevado Coropuna | 14 | 6405 | 2208 | Peru | |
Cerro Parinacota | 15 | 6342 | 25th July 2022 | 1989 | Bolivia/Chile |
Nevado Ampato | 16 | 6288 | 1997 | Peru | |
Pomerape | 17 | 6282 | 922 | Bolivia/Chile | |
Reclus | 18 | 6280 | 760 | Argentina | |
Volcán Chimborazo | 19 | 6267 | 4122 | Ecuador | |
Tres Quebradas | 20 | 6239 | 1524 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerro Pular | 21 | 6233 | 1898 | Chile | |
Cerro Solo | 22 | 6205 | 678 | Chile/Argentina | |
Quemado | 23 | 6184 | 704 | Argentina | |
Aucanquilcha | 24 | 6176 | 2165 | Chile | |
El Ermitaño | 25 | 6146 | 1326 | Chile | |
Volcán San Pedro | 26 | 6145 | 2024 | Chile | |
Queva | 27 | 6140 | 1635 | Argentina | |
Sierra Nevada | 28 | 6140 | 1352 | Chile/Argentina | |
Marmolejo | 29 | 6120 | 2100 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerros Barrancas Blancas | 30 | 6119 | 1069 | Chile | |
Cerro Aracar | 31 | 6095 | 1791 | Argentina | |
Nevado Solimana | 32 | 6093 | 1453 | Peru | |
Volcán San Pablo | 33 | 6092 | 787 | Chile | |
Cerro Colorados | 34 | 6080 | 1000 | Chile/Argentina | |
Cerro Vicuñas | 35 | 6067 | 727 | Chile | |
Volcán Guallatiri | 36 | 6063 | 1423 | Chile | |
Nevado El Fraile | 37 | 6061 | 811 | Chile/Argentina | |
Nevado Chachani | 38 | 6057 | 1963 | Peru | |
Cerro Acotango | 39 | 6052 | 18th July 2022 | 852 | Bolivia/Chile |
Cerro Copiapó | 40 | 6052 | 1701 | Chile | |
Volcán Socompa | 41 | 6051 | 2015 | Chile/Argentina | |
Pili | 42 | 6046 | 1608 | Chile | |
Palpana | 43 | 6040 | 1947 | Chile | |
Salin | 44 | 6029 | 1469 | Chile/Argentina | |
Hualca Hualca | 45 | 6025 | 685 | Peru | |
Uturuncu | 46 | 6020 | 1400 | Bolivia | |
Cerro de San Francisco | 47 | 6018 | 1116 | Chile/Argentina | |
Alto Toroni | 48 | 5995 | 1733 | Bolivia/Chile | |
Volcán Tacora | 49 | 5980 | 1713 | Chile | |
Cerro Sairecábur | 50 | 5971 | 1262 | Bolivia/Chile |
I have a separate list of the Top 50 most prominent volcanoes in the world here. This list shows a far wider geographical range.
I would like to hear from (or of) any person who is looking to complete climbs of all of the volcanoes in either of these lists. Please use the contact form for this.