[skiwi]

CHINESE scientists plan to remeasure Mt Everest amid fears the highest mountain in the world is shrinking due to global warming.

Everest, which straddles the border of Nepal and Chinese-controlled Tibet, is believed to have shrunk by as much as 1.3 metres due to the melting of glaciers, state TV reported today.

The official height of the world's highest mountain is 8848m.

Chinese state media reported last year that a staggering 7 per cent of the country's glaciers were vanishing annually under the sweltering sun, including those covering Everest.

Leading glacier expert Yan Tandong said as many as 64 per cent of China's glaciers may be gone by 2050 if current trends continue.
The scientists will work on Everest's slopes from March 20 to June 20.

[K9P]

But will this make the Chinese think twice about their hell-for-leather pursuit of a car economy and change direction? Methinks not.

[The_Virginian]

Chinese Comissar: "Oh goody, more pure meltwater for the thirsty masses, their crops, and livestock..."

[Guest]

Bit of trivia ... the tallest mountain on earth is not Everest, but Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador.

http://aerospace.wcc.hawaii.edu/shape.html

(all depends on how you define 'tallest')

[eastbay]

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/BeataUnke.shtml

Here's another candidate for tallest mountain on earth.

"Hawaii's Mauna Kea, though, rises an astonishing 33,476 feet (10,203 meters) from the depths of the Pacific Ocean floor. Measuring from base to peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on earth."

EastBay