Kathmandu, April 8: Nepal and China on Thursday resolved a longstanding row over the height of the world’s highest peak as they agreed to two different measurements based on snow and rock heights of Mt. Everest.
The exact height of the highest peak has been a source of dispute ever since the first measurement was made in 1856. Everest lies on the border between the two countries and they have disagreed for years over its exact height, which Nepal puts at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet), nearly four metres more than the measurement used by China.
During official talks this week they agreed to two measurements, one based on the height of Everest’s rock and the other to the height of its snowcap.
“The Chinese side — led by Li Qingyuan — accepted Nepal’s claim that the snow height of Mt. Everest is 8,848m, while the Nepali side recognised the Chinese claim that the rock height of the mountain is 8,844.43m,” an official at the ministry of foreign affairs was quoted as saying by Kantipur Online.
Now Nepal and China have agreed to recognise snow and rock heights of Mt. Everest, thereby settling differences over the height of the peak.
“Since Everest lies on the Nepal-China border we have to identify its location and height,” a senior Department of Survey officer said. On October 9, 2005, China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping had officially announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43m, the report said. Mt Everest has been climbed by hundreds of people since the first ascent in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. —PTI