Mount Everest is 29,031.7 feet above sea level, according to the newly announced elevation today. That is more than two feet higher than the altitude previously recognized by the government of Nepal.
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 has is not 8,848 metres but 8,848.86 metres — an increase of 2.8 feet. Not only is this monumental in the space of geography but it’s also first-ever joint announcement by Nepal and China — the two countries that share the grand expanse of the mountain. The elevation, which was announced on December 8 in a joint statement by the Survey Department of Nepal and Chinese authorities, is the culmination of a multiyear project to definitively measure the legendary mountain.
As the first serious survey of Everest in 16 years, the effort has been closely followed by the geographic community—particularly scientists analyzing how a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 affected the region. It brings the disagreements between Nepal and China over Mount Everest’s exact height to an end. 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.
