Mount Denali, situated in the Alaska Range is the tallest peak in the United States of America at 6190 metres (20,310 feet) above sea level.

Formerly known as Mount McKinley, Mount Denali stands quite isolated as the highest peak in the US and is the only one over 6000 metres.

Mount St Elias, king of the St Elias Mountains range is the closest rival at 5489 m (18,009 feet) although it is shared with Canada's neighbouring Yukon province. Alaska is in fact home to the 10 highest summits in the US.

In the contiguous United States (not including Alaska & Hawaii), the vast granite face of Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevada Range represents the highest peak, at 4421 m (14,505 feet).

From there Colorado leads the way with the vast majority of the highest peaks in the US, as it is home to more than 50 percent of the so-called 'Fourteeners'; mountains with an altitude of over 14 thousand feet. They total 96 in number and Colorado has 53.

But isn't Mauna Kea the highest mountain in the world?

Rising high above the island state of Hawaii, Mauna Kea just misses out on being a fourteener at 13,802 feet (4207 m). What is peculiar about this extinct volcano is how it rises from deep under water. If measured from its base, at the bottom of the ocean to its summit, Mauna Kea rises to over 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) which would of course make it the highest mountain in the world.