How Tall Is Mount Everest? For Nepal, It’s a Touchy Question.
Folklore has it that when Mr. Sikdar finished calculating his findings in 1852, he made a beeline for the office of a superior stationed in the foothills of the Himalayas and announced
that he had "discovered the highest mountain in the world." In 1856, the height of Peak XV was recorded at 29,002 feet, a number remarkably close to the height recognized by climbing bodies today.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, the former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said China applied pressure on the Nepal’s government
and an international climbing body to recognize 29,017 feet, the measurement from the rock base, as the mountain’s new height.
" Mr. Sherpa said. that China changed its own findings last year after the number of
climbers summiting Mount Everest from the northern side significantly decreased,
In 1999, a measurement by American scientists pushed the peak a little higher, saying the mountain reached 29,035 feet.
But Nepal held its ground, and China recently backed down, Mr. Sherpa said, apparently
in response to a drop in climbers tackling the mountain from the Tibet side.
In the mid-1950s, the height was recognized as about 29,029 feet, making it the world’s tallest mountain above sea level.