Mount Everest is not the Tallest Mountains on the Earth
Everyone thinks that Mount Everest is the tallest mountains of the world. But technically it’s not exactly the tallest. Then what do you think is the tallest mountains on the Earth? In one way, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain above sea level. But while talking about sheer height here, base to summit, the tallest mountain is Mauna Kea found on the Island of Hawaii.
Mount Everest is 29,035 feet above sea level and is the tallest mountains on the earth. Mauna Kea just stands 13,796 feet above sea level, but the mountain extends about 19,700 feet below the Pacific Ocean. Over more than half of it is submerged into the sea. The total height of the Mauna Kea is about 33,500 feet. This is nearly a mile taller than Everest.
Now what you would say is the tallest mountains in the world? Mount Everest or Mauna Kea?
Recently, the construction of a 14th telescope inspired mass protests on the mountainside by native Hawaiians. They consider Mauna Kea as sacred ground. The controversy has split the astronomy community in two and brought the construction of the telescope to a halt. It’s unclear when the building will resume.
If you climb Mauna Kea, then technically you’ll have measured it and you might have been proved with the tallest mountain on Earth. You just majorly cheated by starting more than half way up the mountain.
The Himalayan mountain is actually beaten by Chimborazo, in Ecuador. But Everest still wins on the traditional metrics as it measures nearly 9,000m above sea level. This is thousands more than any of its closest rivals.
A number of tourists create avalanche fears on Mount Everest. But it’s not actually the furthest up, or the closest to space. On that measure, Ecuador’s mountain stands on the top and it’s all because of the shape of the Earth. As we know that the Earth’s shape is not round or a perfect sphere.As disc
As discussed until now, Mount Everest tops in the list of tallest mountains above the sea level. When they are measured from the center of the Earth, Chimborazo is on the top of the list. And Everest wouldn’t have even been in the top 20 mountains. This is all because of the imperfect shape of the Earth. That shape gives an advantage to any mountains that lie along the equator. And Chimborazo is one among those. Chimborazo is very close to the center of the Earth that is bulging, while Everest is about a third of the way towards the top.
However, Mount Everest doesn’t even really get to be the highest mountain on some other measures. Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is a lot bigger from top to bottom. But since that bottom and much of the rest of the mountain is under the sea, it isn’t able to match Everest’s record-breaking height when measured in relation to sea level.
The fame of Mount Everest and infamy really comes from the fact that it is the highest climb and so the hardest one too.
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