Mountains in Bhutan

At 7,570 metres, or 24,836 feet, the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed mountain on earth. Four expeditions attempted it in the mid 1980s and none reached the top; since 1994 nothing has been permitted above 6,000 metres, and the border with China is disputed on top of that. It sits on the northern frontier and is not visible from anywhere on the standard tourist circuit. The realistic view is from the Snowman trek or from the air.

At 7,538 metres, long listed as Bhutan's highest peak and now generally placed wholly inside Tibet, a few kilometres north of the border, which is why you will see it described both ways. A Japanese team climbed it from the Chinese side in 1986. Whichever atlas you trust, it is not accessible from Bhutan and there is no viewpoint for it on the Bhutanese side. It is included here because Bhutanese sources still claim it and travellers still ask.

A 7,207 metre peak on the disputed northwestern border with Tibet, and one of the least documented mountains of its height anywhere. There is no record of a successful ascent, no established route and no viewpoint on the Bhutanese side, since the whole area sits inside restricted border country. It appears on this list for completeness rather than as somewhere you can plan around. Even reliable elevation figures for it differ between sources.

At 7,326 metres, the mountain most visitors actually see, and the one the country's best known trek is named after. It stands on the Tibetan border northwest of Paro, not near Thimphu, and reaching its base camp is a five to seven day walk rather than a day trip. It was climbed in 1937 from the Tibetan side and is now off limits. For a view without the trek, the Chelela pass above Paro gives a clear line to it on a good morning.

A 6,714 metre peak immediately north of Jomolhari and often photographed with it, a much sharper and more obviously dramatic shape than its larger neighbour. It was first climbed in 1988 and, like everything else here, is now closed. The Jomolhari trek passes below both, and the section between Jangothang and Lingshi is where the two stand together. It is also visible from Chelela on a clear day, which is the least effort for the most mountain.

Worth flagging that this is a range rather than a single peak, unlike everything else on this list. The Black Mountains run north to south through central Bhutan between the Mangde and Sankosh rivers, forming the watershed that divides the west of the country from the east and, historically, its dialects. Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park covers much of them. The Pele La pass on the road from Thimphu to Trongsa crosses the range at 3,420 metres.

A 7,204 metre peak on the northwestern border with Tibet, in the same restricted stretch of frontier as Tongshanjiabu, and similarly close to undocumented. No permitted ascent has taken place and there is no approach from the Bhutanese side. Like its neighbours it is mapped inconsistently, with different sources placing the summit and the border in different spots. There is no viewpoint: this is a name on a map rather than a destination.

A 4,300 metre peak at the trijunction where Bhutan, India and China meet, far lower than the rest of this list and far more consequential. Its identification matters because the 1890 Anglo-Chinese convention used it to define the boundary, and the Doklam plateau below it was the site of a prolonged standoff between India and China in 2017. The area is closed and militarised. It is on this page as a point of geography and history, not as a place to visit.

A 7,535 metre peak on the Bhutan and Tibet border immediately northwest of Gangkhar Puensum, and sometimes treated as a subsidiary summit of it rather than a mountain in its own right, which is why the name appears in some lists and not others. A Chinese team reached it from the north in 1999, which Bhutan does not recognise as a climb of its own mountain. No approach exists from the Bhutanese side.

A 7,194 metre peak in the far northwest, inside Jigme Dorji National Park, which at over 4,300 square kilometres is the largest protected area in Bhutan. It has been attempted and there is no confirmed ascent. The park around it holds takin, snow leopard and blue sheep, and the Laya and Snowman trekking routes pass through it, which is the only realistic way anyone sees this mountain from the ground.