The Greater Ranges comprise the high mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

s of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

:

• the Himalayas
  Himalayas
  The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
  
  ,
• the Karakoram
  Karakoram
  The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...
  
  ,
• the Hindu Kush
  Hindu Kush
  The Hindu Kush is an mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a...
  
   and Hindu Raj
  Hindu Raj
  The Hindu Raj is a mountain range in northern Pakistan, between the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram ranges. Its highest peak is Koyo Zom, 6,872 m . Other notable peaks include Buni Zom and Ghamubar Zom. The range is less well-known than its neighbors, partly because of the absence of any 8000 or 7000...
  
  ,
• the Pamir Mountains
  Pamir Mountains
  The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable...
  
  ,
• the Tien Shan,
• the Kunlun Shan,
• the Nyanchen Tangla
  Nyenchen Tanglha
  Nyenchen Tanglha or Nyainqêntanglha is a mountain range lying approximately 300 kilometer north-west of Lhasa in central Tibet.The range's highest peak, Mount Nyainqêntanglha, stands at 7,162 metres in Damxung County; the nearest town to this peak is Yangbajain.The mountain range has more than...
  
   (or Transhimalaya) and various smaller mountain ranges inside Tibet
  Tibet
  Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
  
   and in western China (in the Tibet-Sichuan
  Sichuan
  ' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
  
  -Yunnan
  Yunnan
  Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
  
   region, including Qionglai Shan).

All of these ranges have peaks over 6000 m (19,695 ft), and most have peaks over 7,000 m (22,966 ft). The Greater Ranges contain all of the world's peaks 7000 m and higher.

The term was popular amongst alpinist

Alpinist

Alpinist is a quarterly American magazine focused on mountaineering ascents worldwide. It was originally published out of Jackson, Wyoming and was founded in 2002...

s in the Victorian period and was used to distinguished the high peaks of Asia from the European Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

.