Chimborazo has the highest summit elevation above Earth’s centre because of the equatorial bulge.
Its summit reaches about 6,263 metres above sea level, but Chimborazo stands very close to the equator. Earth is wider around the equator than at the poles, so the surface there is farther from the planet’s centre. This gives Chimborazo’s summit a greater centre-to-summit distance than Mount Everest’s, despite Everest being higher above sea level.
Chimborazo is an inactive stratovolcano in Ecuador’s Cordillera Occidental, near the city of Riobamba. Its summit is covered by glaciers, although those glaciers have retreated substantially in recent decades.
A common mix-up is calling Chimborazo Earth’s highest mountain in the usual sea-level sense. Mount Everest remains the highest point above sea level; Chimborazo holds this unusual distance-from-the-centre distinction. The mountain’s name is often linked to Indigenous Ecuadorian languages, though its precise etymology is debated.