The world’s highest peak just got a little taller.
• A joint survey by China and Nepal has concluded that the height of Mount Everest is not 8,848 metres but 8,848.86 metres — an increase of 2.8 feet.
• Nepal and China share the grand expanse of the mountain.
Disagreements on height
• This brings the disagreements between Nepal and China over Mount Everest’s exact height to an end.
• The disagreement over the difference in the height of a little of three metres stemmed from a single question — whether to include the mountain's snowcap or limit its height to the rock base.
• Since Nepal’s measurement of the ‘Sagarmatha’ — what the locals call Mount Everest — agreed with India’s 1954 Survey, it became the global standard. This was bolstered by the fact that most other countries included the snowcap when measuring their peaks.
• It also puts to rest the speculation by geologists that Mount Everest’s shrunk by a few centimetres after an earthquake, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, hit Nepal in 2015.
Other details:
• Mount Everest isn’t the first peak to see its height revised but it’s probably the first to get taller rather than shrink.
• North America’s highest mountain, Denali — previously known as Mount McKinley — lost three metres when satellites took up the task to remeasure it in 2015.
• Sweden’s highest peak, the Kebnekaise mountain, has also been a victim of shrinkage, albeit due to climate change.
• In New Zealand, Mount Cook lost 10 metres after an avalanche in 1991 wiped away its entire snow top.
• The height of Aconcagua in the Andes has also been reduced by a metre along with Australia’s Mount Kuscuiscko.
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