Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Mount Everest’s height has long been treated as a straightforward fact, but the world’s highest mountain has a surprisingly complicated measurement history, including a famous case where surveyors intentionally altered their reported result to make it seem more believable.
The first official measurement of Everest was completed in 1852 during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. After taking observations from six different locations, surveyors calculated the mountain’s height at exactly 29,000 feet. Concerned that the figure appeared too neat and might be dismissed as a rough estimate, they added two feet to the published result, reporting Everest’s elevation as 29,002 feet, or 8,840 meters. The unusual decision has since become one of the most famous anecdotes in the history of surveying. Details of the measurement were later highlighted by researchers.
While Everest is widely known as Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, the title depends on how height is measured. Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is taller when measured from its underwater base to its summit, reaching roughly 10,210 meters, or 33,500 feet. Meanwhile, the point on Earth furthest from the planet’s center is not Everest at all, but a peak in the Andes, thanks to Earth’s equatorial bulge.
For more than a century, the 29,002-foot figure remained the accepted height of Everest. In 1954, however, the Survey of India conducted a new measurement and determined the mountain stood at 8,848 meters, or 29,028 feet. Advances in surveying technology have continued to refine that figure over the decades.
The mountain’s height remains a subject of scientific interest because it can change over time. Tectonic activity in the Himalayas gradually alters elevations, and some researchers questioned whether the powerful 2015 Nepal earthquake may have affected Everest’s summit.
Another debate centered on whether measurements should include the mountain’s snow and ice cap. Chinese surveys historically favored reporting the rock height beneath the snow, resulting in a slightly lower figure than measurements used by other countries.
To settle the issue, Nepal and China conducted a joint survey following the earthquake. In 2020, the two nations announced a new official height of 8,848.86 meters, or 29,032 feet, nearly a meter higher than the previous widely accepted measurement. Even so, Everest’s exact height may continue to evolve as the mountain and the technology used to measure it change over time.
