Mount Everest Is Almost One Metre Taller Than Previously Thought

Mount Everest is almost 1m taller than previously thought, following surveys by Nepal and China which aimed to reach an agreement on the mountain's height.

Until now the two countries did not agree over whether to include the mountain's snow cap while measuring it - meaning China's previous official measurement was 8,844.43m while Nepal had it at 8,848 metres.

PA

The countries have now mutually agreed that its official height is 8,848.86 metres - making it taller than even the higher of the two previous calculations.

The new height was agreed after the countries sent surveyors from their sides of the mountain - which straddles the two countries - in 2019 and 2020.

Speaking in a video call to announce the new height, Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said Everest is an 'eternal symbol of friendship between Nepal and China'.

He and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi both pressed buttons at the same time to reveal the new height in the video call.

PA

It was the first time Nepal had ever calculated its own measurement of the Everest.

Damodar Dhakal, a spokesperson for Nepal's department of survey, told the BBC it was a historic achievement for the country, saying: "Before this, we had never done the measurement ourselves.

"Now that we have a young, technical team [who could also go to the Everest summit], we could do it on our own."

But the climb wasn't all plain-sailing.

Lead surveyor Khimlal Gautam lost his toe to frostbite during an expedition to install measuring equipment last year.

He told the BBC: "For summiteers, scaling the highest peak means a great accomplishment. For us, it was just the beginning.

"Unlike other surveys of the Everest in the past, we chose 03.00 to minimise errors that could have been caused because of sunlight in the day time."

PA

Nepal had previously based its measurement on an estimate from the Survey of India in 1954, which included the snow.

While China measured it up to the rock height of the summit in 2005.

It was also thought that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 - which killed almost 9,000 people in Nepal - could have had an impact on the height of the mountain, with other Himalayan mountains having reduced in height following the tragedy.

Speaking to the BBC, Dhakal said: "The 2015 earthquake is also a major reason why we re-measured the mountain."

Topics: World News, Interesting

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19