The world’s highest mountain Mount Everest is 0.86m higher than had been previously officially calculated, Nepal and China have jointly announced.
Until now the countries differed over whether to add the snow cap on top. The new height is 8,848.86m (29,032 ft).
China’s previous official measurement of 8,844.43m had put the mountain nearly four metres lower than Nepal’s.
Everest stands on the border between China and Nepal and mountaineers climb it from both sides.
Officials at Nepal’s foreign ministry and department of survey said surveyors from both countries had co-ordinated to agree on the new height.
The agreement to jointly announce the new measurement of the Earth’s highest point was made during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu last year.
(BBC)
