China, Nepal Settle Mount Everest Height Dispute
A meeting between officials from China and Nepal has settled a
longstanding dispute regarding the official height of Mount Everest,
according to various media reports published Thursday.
In 1954,
the Survey of India measured Everest as being 29,028 feet tall.
However, that was the measurement for the mountain using its snow
height. In May 2005, Chinese mountaineers and researchers scaled the
peak and found that its rock height was actually 11 feet less (29,017
feet).
Nepal has long insisted that the 1954 estimate was
official, which had put the two nations at odds up until this week.
According to BBC News, "During talks in Nepal's capital Kathmandu,
China accepted that claim… This means the official overall height of
Everest is now designated as 8,848m. Nepal also recognizes China's
claim that the rock height of Everest is 8,844m."
The agreement between the two countries does not exactly put an end
to the dispute over Everest's official height. However, In 1999, an
expedition by the Boston Museum of Science and the National Geographic
Society used satellite technology to determine that the mountain stood
29,035 feet (or 8,850m) tall. Furthermore, climbers have recently
reported that the snow and ice covered mountain has been experiencing
some shrinkage due to global climate change.
Mount Everest is
located on the border between Nepal and China, and is officially both
the highest mountainous point above sea level and the highest
continental crust point on Earth. It was first successfully scaled by
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in May 1953.
Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Last edited: 11-Apr-10 09:39 AM