Height of Mt. Everest

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

This is in reference to the column “Which is taller, Everest or K2?” at www.straightdope.com/mailbag/meverest.html According to http://cnn.com/NATURE/9911/12/everest.taller.ap/index.html an expedition led by Bill Crouse and sponsored by the National Geographic, the height of Mt. Everest was, last May, 29,035 feet. Crouse and company scaled the peak, carrying the latest in hand-held GPS devices and radar. After a lot of number-crunching, the new height was determined. It was also found that the whole mountain is moving northeast at the breathtaking rate of 2.4 inches per year. Some day, the whole peak will be Chinese. Or Tibetan, depending on your loyalties.

BTW, at the summit, Crouse used a satellite phone to call his mother in Colorado.

More info can be found at www.nationalgeographic.com/everest On that site, it is noted that not only is Everest moving north, it’s also getting taller at the rate of 0.1576 inches per year. Since the measurements were taken in May, it’s already about a third of an inch taller. :slight_smile:

Fighting my own ignorance since 1957.

2

Wouldn’t that be more like 1/12th of an inch?

Rich

3

You’re right. Instead of dividing that number in half (for half a year) to get 0.0788 inches, I doubled it to get 0.3152 inches.

I do that a lot. :o

BTW, it gives us a new answer to that old question, “Why do you climb mountains?”

“To see how tall they are.”

Fighting my own ignorance since 1957.

4

I also forget how to do italics properly.

Fighting my own ignorance since 1957.