<p>Fog obscures the summit of Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu, a 13,455-foot (4,101-meter) peak in northwestern East Malaysia. Formerly known as St. Peter's Mount, Kinabalu is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago.</p>

Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia

Fog obscures the summit of Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu, a 13,455-foot (4,101-meter) peak in northwestern East Malaysia. Formerly known as St. Peter's Mount, Kinabalu is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago.

Photograph by Jose Azel

Mountains

They define landscapes, people risk their lives to climb them, and they can even make their own weather.

The mighty chunks rise all over the world, including the oceans. They usually have steep, sloping sides and sharp or rounded ridges, and a high point, called a peak or summit. Most geologists classify a mountain as a landform that rises at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) or more above its surrounding area. A mountain range is a series or chain of mountains that are close together.

The world's tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth's crust—called plates—smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics, and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision. The Himalaya in Asia formed from one such massive wreck that started about 55 million years ago. Thirty of

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