The summit is the highest point of something.
The summit is the highest point of something . The term comes from the Latin cyma .
From topographic analysis, it is the point on a surface that is highest in altitude compared to all points immediately adjacent to it. For mathematics , on the other hand, the top is the local maximum of a function .
In everyday language, the term summit is only used to refer to mountain peaks that have a significant degree of topographic prominence or that have topographic isolation. Thus, a block near the main summit of a mountain range is not considered the summit. Instead, we usually talk about subpeaks or subpeaks of the main peak .
Some famous peaks
Mount Everest , located in the Himalayas , is the highest mountain (and therefore the summit) on Earth , at 8,851 meters above sea level . It should be noted that the hundred highest mountains in the world are located on the Asian continent.
The highest mountain in America , meanwhile, is Aconcagua ( 6959 meters above sea level ). At the European level, the summit is the Elbrus volcano, at 5,633 meters above sea level.
Getting to the top of a mountain is usually the goal of mountaineering.
Beyond the term
The top of a mountain is the aspect that first catches the eye, and the one that is generally used to catalog it, as can be seen in the previous paragraph. It is, so to speak, its most prominent surface feature . However, it goes without saying that in its structure there are many points to take into account when describing it, starting with its type of vegetation, the animals that live there or that pass through it and the climate of the area in which it is located. that is found.
This also carries over to the field of sports . Take mountaineering for example: a first definition tells us that it is activities such as going on excursions and walking through a mountain, both on its surface and through the caves that exist in it. The goal is not always to reach the top; In this case, we can talk about ascension (if instinctive walking and climbing is enough) or mountaineering (if the use of specific climbing techniques is required).
CIMA as an acronym
On the other hand, it should be noted that the word summit also refers to the acronym used by several organizations.
This is the case of the Environmental Research Center (of the National University of La Plata , in Argentina ), the Sea and Atmosphere Research Center , the Applied Medical Research Center , the International Center for Advanced Medicine and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants .
symbolic use of the notion
This word can also be used symbolically, to indicate the highest point of a process, either by intensity or success , among other parameters. Being at the top of one's career , for example, means having reached the peak , the most satisfactory moment in every sense; From there only a descent awaits, in the same way that occurs at the peak of a mountain.
Just as in the case of mountaineering, the summit does not always represent the desired milestone in a person's life; In fact, it is not possible to force its appearance or avoid it either. Every series of events forms rises and falls, which is why at the end of a story a maximum point and a minimum point are evident. However, this requires observing it by setting certain parameters: personal development, professional success, interpersonal relationships, etc. Since a fall begins from that point, it is usually commented with a tone of sadness, to narrate an unfortunate event or even death itself: "He was at the top when the news of his illness hit him."