Everest measured higher at 8,848.86 meters

China and Nepal have jointly announced a new height for Mount Everest, ending a discrepancy between the two nations.

The new official height is 8,848.86 meters (29,032 feet), China’s state media Xinhua said Tuesday, slightly more than Nepal’s previous measurement and about four meters (13 feet) higher than China’s.

The new height was agreed on after the two counties sent surveyors from their respective sides of the mountain in 2019 and 2020.

There had been debate over the actual height of the peak and concern that it might have shrunk after a major earthquake in 2015.

Nepal previously measured Everest’s height as 8,848 meters, while China put it at 8,844.43, because it did not include the snow cap.-AP