What is the tallest mountain on Earth, measured from sea level?

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth, measured from sea level.

Everest stands in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Its summit reaches 8,848.86 metres above sea level, according to the 2020 elevation survey jointly announced by Nepal and China. Earlier commonly cited measurements differed slightly because of surveying methods and whether the snow cap was included.

The mountain is called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan. The name Everest honors George Everest, a nineteenth-century Surveyor General of India, although he never saw the mountain. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed successful ascent in 1953.

K2 is sometimes confused with Everest because it is technically more difficult to climb, but K2 is lower. Mauna Kea is taller when measured from its underwater base, yet Everest remains the highest point above sea level.