(Ω) Dr D, Carstensz Pyramid actually looks like a fun mountain to climb.l kind of think K2 would be much more dangerous. After looking up Carstensz Pyramid, l have decided that the chief technical challenge is getting past the local red tape.
Gipp1616, I am in agrement with you, how to decide this?One thing for sure, simply because Everest is the highest mountain in the world and one of the most popular destinations for climbers does not mean it is particularly difficult.There are probably dozens of obscure peaks in the Himalayas that are far harder.
D.L. Denis Li, Olympus Mons is an excellent choice for the hardest mountain to climb, being that the summit is extremely dififcult to reach, not to mention costly!
Rob H, there is a difference between a difficult mountain to climb, and a difficult route to cilmb.The Trango Towers in the Himalayas have some of the world is most difficult climbs, for instance. But do you know what? There are no easy way to the top of the Trango Towers.
Check this wiki and pic of Trango Towers.Now, THESE are more impressive to me that Mt Everest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trango_Towers
Excuse me, Karakoram Range, not Himalayas.My bad.
Remo Ω Aviron, l have no idea what the first 2 would be.Judging by popular opinion (not by real climbers), l imagine they'd be Everest and K2, the order being debatable.
l agree that an ascent is much more rewarding when there is a grand view from the summit---something that seems notoriously uneven among mountains.Oftentimes, it is the obscure peaks that surprises me with an unforgettable view from the top.

l think it is Carstensz Pyramid. I've never been able to climb that one.

The top 5 in an unofficial poll are:
Everest
Denali
Carstensz Pyramid
Vinson
Aconcagua

How do decide which is the 3rd hardest? You could look at which peak has been climbed the 3rd fewest times. Or u could go off of which has the 3rd lowest success rate, that is for X numbers of climbers that attempted, Y number of climbers succeeded. But that would depend on ur definition of success, some might say summiting is a success while others would argue that summitting & making it back down alive is a success.

Odds r that it would be in the Himalayas or the Korakorum ranges, but the third hardest might very well be in Alaska. For example, in David Roberts autobiography ''On the Ridge Between Life & Death he talks about a mountain they attempted to climb in Alaska, l believe it is Mt. Deborah, that at the time of publishing had never been climbed. It was not so much that it was a technical or challenging mountain, but it has brittle, crumbly rock that does not provide fall protection & because of its location, the snow pack is never ''right'' for climbing either. So even though Deborah is not overly challenging technically, it is essentially not climbable.

l realize this does not directly answer ur question, but l hope it gives insight as to why u might recieve a hundred different about which mountain is the third hardest to climb.

id go with everest maybe, you dont need to be amazing at climbing to do everest just obviously you need to be a decent climber but you need to be very physically and mentally fit
please answer mine
http://..com/question/index;_ylt=As4oXnG4FURT3YQALjoLD4_sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080806075036AAYsaGF

Based on Dr.D is answer, l think Denali would be the third hardest. Should not the first hardest be Olympus Mons? Everest is second hardest!

Well if you're going to bring Olympus Mons into it, I'd wager that there r hundreds of mountains harder than Everest knocking around our solar system!
and yeah what u mean by hardest would depend on which route u go up. l guess u might mean the easiest route? but there is things like the Matterhorn in Switzerland which l think is just an Assez Difficile route, but the north face of it must be verrrry hard. Likewise l am sure u could find an horrific route up Everest..

What r ur first two?

If u look carefully at Dr. D is poll, it is about the 7 summits, not mountains in general. By his method, Britton Hill is the 50th toughest summit in the US. At 100m, it is the highest peak in Florida. Do they have a cache at the top?

There r many criteria u could use, most dangerous (ice, avalanches, crumbly rock), risk of death, most physically demanding (cold, elevation, time), most technically challenging, most difficult to access, most expensive (i.e. cost of launching an expedition). There r bolders that r tougher to climb than Everest (based on success rate -- not on consequences of failure).

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Trango towers look pretty cool.

( l personally like mountains that r a good hard slog up, good view -- not necessarily difficult, but rewarding, e.g. Shasta, et al.).

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Here r some more pictures of Trango. Scroll down. Pretty awsome.

http://google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pakwheels.com/images/forums/2007/11/17/trango_tower3_LL9_PakWheels(com).jpg&imgrefurl=http://pakwheels.com/forumreply_az_TopicID!27578~ForumID!29~page!39~pw.html&h=770&w=509&sz=49&tbnid=KRhGn_N2qi0J::&tbnh=142&tbnw=94&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTrango%2Btowers&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1

Mount Everest from North col, Ama Dablam, Annapurna, and K-2 are among the most difficult ones. Many times descending is more dangerous than the climbing part.