Definition

What is a Mountain?
Literature on mountains is extensive and voluminous. Yet, there is no rigorous definition of universal acceptance of what constitutes a mountain. Most discussions on mountains and their development merge the concept of montaigne (Old French, meaning a considerable height) with the concept of the old English term hill (small mound), and these are not the same. Such transposition is also evident in the poetic imagery of Wilfrid Noyce (1954, p 294):

Everest: terror and love:
No veil is upon you, no cloud
Doubts the huge hump, mighty monument set on earth,
Harp of the wind, snow-song and avalanche tears,
And tinier tale of men. But men are so proud,
Their mole-story is hill-high (see Plate 1).

According to Geoffrey Winthrop Young, a mountain is "earth set on earth a little higher." Thus, it is relative and subjective—that is, whatever strikes fire in the imagination. Therefore, one person's mountain is another person's knoll (Hanson 1988, p.8). The definition provided by a classic on mountain geography (Peattie 1936, p 1) is similar:

"A mountain, strictly speaking, is a conspicuous elevation of a small summit area. A plateau is a similar elevation of a larger summit area with at least one sheer side. An essential yet indefinite element in the definition of a mountain is the conspicuity. Conspicuity, like height, is a relative matter, and depends upon the evaluation or the standard by which it is measured."

In other words, a mountain is a mountain because of the part it plays in popular imagination. Therefore, the cult of the mountain (shugendo) as a sacred place and poetic eulogies such as those characteristic of Meghadut (Kalidasa, 5th Century), Die Alpen (Albrecht von Haller, 1708-77), Wilhelm Tell (Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, 1759-1805), and Childe Harold (George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1824). Mountains may be considered sacred, sublime, and beautiful. They also happen to be marginal areas for human occupancy due to their high altitude and steep gradient. Yet, the mountain is not an amorphous mass but a composite of elevation zones. This is evident from indigenous terms from the mountains of Nepal such as pahar (hill without snow), lekh (ridge with winter snow), and himal (range with permanent snow). These terms are indicative of socioeconomic zones with intensive land use at lower levels, extensive use at intermediate levels, and no use at upper levels.

This regional survey of a land mass as large as Asia needs objective criteria. Thus, only those ranges and plateaus that exceed 1,000 masl have been considered as mountains; and this includes high hills also. Thus, the enquiry has been confined to altitudinal zones of hochgebirge (glaciated) and mittelgebirge (non-glaciated) mountains as defined by natural science. An overview of this kind, focussing on conspicuous ranges, cannot provide an in-depth regional analysis of a composite environment and its interaction with the adjacent lowlands. Hence, the preference given to the term mountain area instead of mountain region, as this is the appropriate terminology for the spatial aggregation.