New England 50 Finest

NEFF
The New England Fifty Finest

Another rather ambitious peak-bagging list that I’d love to complete, but I think real life will make this one difficult. This is a rather unique list that doesn’t have too much overlap with other, more popular lists. The list comprises the 50 summits with the highest topographic prominence — a peak’s height above the lowest contour which encloses that peak and no higher peak. The list includes 20 peaks in Maine, 15 in Vermont, 14 in New Hampshire, and one in Massachusetts.

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 ft. It has a prominence of about 6,150 ft., 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., none has a major prominence because they are connected to Washington by ridge lines that are nowhere below 4,900 ft.

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

Got all of that? I think seven of these are not trailed and several are as far afield as one can get in New England. Exciting!

The New England Fifty Finest

As with the rest of the New England peakbagging lists, I climbed a bunch back in the day, but started anew as of meeting Hoang in 2000.

1. Mount Washington NH (6288 ft.) v.2002
2. Mount Katahdin, Baxter Peak ME (5268 ft.) v.2003
3. Mount Mansfield VT (4393 ft.) v.2003
4. Mount Lafayette NH (5249 ft.)
5. Killington Peak VT (4235 ft.)
6. Sugarloaf Mountain ME (4250 ft.)
7. Equinox Mountain VT (3850 ft.)
8. Jay Peak VT (3858 ft.)
9. Mount Moosilauke NH (4802 ft.)
10. Mount Bigelow, West Peak ME (4145 ft.)
11. Dorset Mountain VT (3770 ft.)
12. Carter Dome NH (4832 ft.)
13. Old Speck Mountain ME (4170 ft.)
14. Mount Cabot NH (4170 ft.)
15. White Cap mountain ME (3654 ft.)
16. Coburn Mountain ME (3717 ft.)
17. Mount Greylock MA (3487 ft.) v.2002
18. Mount Putnam VT (3642 ft.)
19. Saddleback Mountain ME (4120 ft.)
20. Kinsman Mountain, South Peak NH (4358 ft.)
21. Stratton Mountain VT (3940 ft.)
22. The Traveler ME (3541 ft.)
23. Mount Shaw NH (2990 ft.)
24. Snow Mountain ME (3960 ft.)
25. Mount Ascutney VT (3140 ft.)
26. Kibby Mountain or Caribou ME (3654 ft.)
27. Mount Carrigain NH (4700 ft.)
28. Baldpate Mountain ME (3790 ft.)
29. East Mountain VT (3439 ft.)
30. Grass Mountain VT (3109 ft.)
31. Baker Mountain ME (3520 ft.)
32. Smarts Mountain NH (3238 ft.)
33. Mount Monadnock NH (3165 ft.), September 2017
34. Cold Hollow Mountains VT (3330 ft.)
35. Signal Mountain VT (3370 ft.)
36. Mount Ellen VT (4083 ft.)
37. Big Moose Mountain ME (3196 ft.)
38. Kearsarge Mountain (Warner, NH) NH (2937 ft.)
39. Doubletop Mountain ME (3489 ft.)
40. Elephant Mountain ME (3772 ft.)
41. Mount Osceola NH (4340 ft.)
42. Boundary Bald Mountain ME (3638 ft.)
43. Gore Mountain VT (3332 ft.)
44. Mount Cardigan NH (3155 ft.)
45. Big Spencer Mountain ME (3206 ft.)
46. Camel’s Hump VT (4083 ft.)
47. Belknap Mountain NH (2382 ft.)
48. Saddleback Mountain ME (4120 ft.)
49. Mount Blue ME (3190 ft.)
50. Moxie Mountain ME (2930 ft.)