List "Southeast Greatest Avg Drop at 100 Meters- Top 100" By wayfarer
Notes: This is a list of the 100 peaks in the Southeastern U.S. with the overall steepest summit areas within 100 meters of said summit. Basically, for the purposes of this list, this concept measures the drop, in feet, of a summit in every direction over a distance of 100 meters, then averages the numbers together for a calculation of the average slope in degrees. The purpose of this list is to identify the steepest, smallest, most "spire-like", and possibly most dramatic peaks in the region, keeping in mind that "spire-like" here will be different and generally less dramatic than in the Western states. Nevertheless, it should provide a list of fairly exciting peaks to visit. An attractive side-effect of these high steepness scores in the heavily treed Southeast is that, by the very nature of the terrain and geology, many of these peaks are likely to have rock outcroppings and cliffs to allow views. Since the distance involved is only 100 meters, unranked peaks from the LOJ Database are included and many score very highly at that distance but do not fare as well at the greater distances of 800 and 1600 meters. However, one must be aware that the LOJ Database, which the steepness lists rely upon, does not include all unnamed peaks with less than 300 feet prominence, so it is possible that other high scoring peaks may be absent from this list. Also, there may be peaks in states not yet in the LOJ database, such as Kentucky that qualify. Those will be added when they become available and will change the layout of the list, likely displacing some of the lower scoring peaks. One should also keep in mind that many of these peaks are on private property and may or may not be accessible to the public. It should also be noted that Pilot Mountain in North Carolina, while on state park property, is VERY closed to climbing but there is a hiking trail around the base of the Big Pinnacle.