This is a list of montes (mountains, singular mons) on the planet Venus. The largest peaks are clustered in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Four major mountain ranges of Venus are Akna Montes, Danu Montes, Freyja Montes, and Maxwell Montes. They are on the Ishtar Terra, surrounding the Lakshmi Planum. There are 118 mons and montes currently recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Six features were formerly classified as mons but have since been reclassified or removed from nomenclature entirely. Notably, Skadi Mons, which was once believed to be the tallest peak on Venus, has since been labeled as a misidentified feature after it was determined in 2025 that it does not correspond to any summit or distinct topographic feature. Venusian mountain belts are typically characterized by having many parallel ridges and troughs, similar to the mountain ranges on Earth. These mountain ranges appear to have been formed by the compressive tectonic folding and buckling of Venus's crust, similar to mountain formation on Earth. However, Venusian mountains have steep slopes due to a lack of erosion; there exist no rivers or glaciers to erode the mountains, and other causes of erosion found on Earth are also absent on Venus. Venusian mountains are all named after goddesses in the mythologies of various cultures, except for the Maxwell Montes, which is named after the physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
Montes
Key
DIAM — Longest dimension of feature in kilometres AS — Approval status (1) — Adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly (2) — Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) approval (3) — Dropped, no longer in use
See also Skadi Mons, formerly thought to be the tallest mountain on Venus Venusian geography Volcanism on Venus List of coronae on Venus List of craters on Venus List of tallest mountains in the Solar System List of mountains on Mars by height
References
External links BBC: Venus has 'heavy metal mountains' USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Advanced Nomenclature Search