Located on Ishtar Terra, the more northern of the planet's two major highlands, Maxwell Montes is high. It rises about 6.4 kilometers above and to the east (21,000 ft above, and 4 miles to the east) of Lakshmi Planum, and is about long by wide. The western slopes are very steep, whereas the eastern slopes descend gradually into Fortuna Tessera. Due to its elevation it is the coolest (about ) and least pressurised (about ) location on the surface of Venus.