A topographical summit is a point on a surface which is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically speaking, a summit is a local maximum in elevation. Colloquially, a summit generally refers to a mountain peak with some significant amount of topographic prominence.

When referring to geographic features such as mountains on a topographic map, variations in elevation are shown by contour lines. The elevation of a mountain denotes the highest point or summit and is typically illustrated as a small circle on a topo map with the AMSL height shown in either metres or feet or both.