How tall is Mount Everest? China set to go the extra mile to remeasure it

Name: China sends surveyors to top of Mount Everest in a bid to measure the world’s tallest mountain
Uploaded: 2020-05-25T11:15:37.000Z
Duration: 1 min 5 s
Description: China sends surveyors to top of Mount Everest in a bid to measure the world’s tallest mountain

8,844 metres (29,017ft) was China’s previous measurement, while Nepal has said it is 4 metres higher

Chinese team camped 1,800 metres from the summit and will try to complete climb on Wednesday

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Chinese surveyors continue their ascent towards the summit of Mount Everest this month. Photo: AP

Wendy Wu

Published: 7:15pm, 25 May 2020Updated: 10:55pm, 25 May 2020

Chinese surveyors and climbers plan to scale the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday in the latest attempt to measure the precise height of the world’s tallest mountain.

The country’s measurement of the peak as part of a comprehensive scientific survey could improve further on its previous measurement of 8,844.43 metres (29,017.2 feet), made in 2005.

The 12-strong expedition team reached a camp at 7,028 metres on Sunday, a little more than 1,800 metres from the summit, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

Severe weather has scuppered two previous attempts to reach the top this month, the second of them last Friday.

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China sends surveyors to top of Mount Everest in a bid to measure the world’s tallest mountain

A joint workshop is to be held by China and Nepal – which has conducted its own measurements of Everest since 2017 – to discuss data collected by each and jointly determine the mountain’s true height, the Nepalese embassy told the South China Morning Post.

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