Mount Everest is now 8,848.86 metres tall

On November 8, the Foreign Ministers of Nepal and China jointly certified the elevation of Mount Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level —That is more than two feet higher than the altitude previously recognized by India in 1954. In feet, the new elevation is about 29,031 ft.

According to the measurement done in 1954 by the Survey of India, the height of Mount Everest is 8,848 metres. The Nepal government decided to measure the exact height of the mountain amid debates that there might have been a change in it due to various reasons, including the devastating earthquake of 2015.

For Nepal, the drive to measure Everest was partly an exercise in national pride. Despite being home to the world’s highest peak, Nepal had never conducted its own measurement.

The surveyors from both the countries employed two methods to measure the mountain: The first was based on trigonometry, a time-tested technique that is also known as a leveling survey. The second used the latest technology, relying on a combination of readings from a satellite navigation system and a complex model of sea level.

Nepal used the Bay of Bengal as its sea level, while Chinese surveyors, according to the state-run China Daily, used the Yellow Sea in the eastern province of Shandong as their sea-level base.

Nepal, in fact, had completed its mission early last year. The Chinese side, on the other hand, conducted its measurements early this year.

China has previously conducted two height measurements of Mount Everest - first in 1975 and then in 2005. The mountain lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet and the summit can be accessed from both sides, although the Nepal route is more popular.