Size does matter: Mount Everest to be re-measured
Size does matter
a disagreement between Nepal and China
over height of Everest forces re-measurement
Nepal has decided that size does matter when it comes to the official height of Mount Everest. The Nepalese government has ordered a new survey to end the “confusion” over the exact height of the world’s tallest mountain.
The official overall height of Everest is designated as 8,848m (29,029ft). But China and Nepal have had a long-running disagreement over the height. The Chinese have argued it should be measured by its rock height. Nepal said it should be measured by its snow height – which is four meters higher. The world’s highest mountain traverses the border of the two countries.
Last year the two sides agreed that Mount Everest should be recognized as being 8,848m tall. But Nepal government spokesman Gopal Giri told AFP news agency that, during border talks between the two countries, Chinese officials often use the rock height.
The broadly-accepted height of 8,848m was first recorded by an Indian survey in 1955. But geologists say that the estimates of both countries over the height of Mount Everest could be wrong.
They say that the mountain is becoming higher as India is gradually pushed beneath China and Nepal because of shifting continental plates.
In May 1999 an American team used GPS technology to record a height of 8,850m – a figure that is now used by the US National Geographic Society, although it has not been officially accepted by Nepal.
Size does matter now, just like in 1856
Thousands of people have climbed the mountain since the first ascent in 1953 by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, its exact height has been disputed ever since the first measurement was made in 1856, by the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m).
In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest. Although Tibetans had called Everest “Chomolungma” for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.
The north face of Mount Everest – Looks like 29,002 feet to me
MadMikesAmerica thinks size does matter, but what’s 4 meters between friends.
You know when you are almost 6 miles in height, what’s 30 feet more or less … especially if someone falls. Is there going to be a noticeably bigger or smaller splat?