What is the official elevation of Mount Everest’s summit agreed by Nepal and China?
Answer
8,848.86 metres
The official elevation of Mount Everest’s summit agreed by Nepal and China is 8,848.86 metres.
Nepal and China announced the jointly agreed height on 8 December 2020. The figure includes the summit’s snow and ice cap and replaced earlier commonly quoted measurements, including Nepal’s 1954 survey result of 8,848 metres and China’s 1975 figure of 8,844.43 metres, which used different conventions.
Everest is part of the Mahalangur Himal subrange of the Himalayas on the Nepal–China border. In Nepal it is called Sagarmatha, while in Tibet it is known as Qomolangma. The mountain was named in English after George Everest, the Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.
The first confirmed ascent was made on 29 May 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. The elevation can change by tiny amounts because of tectonic uplift, erosion, and changing snow conditions, so surveys remain scientifically important.