The mountains that Nims will be climbing are all measured as “height above sea level”, but there are different ways to measure a mountain. If you take this into consideration then Mount Everest is overshadowed by not one but 2 other mountains.
Mount Kilimanjaro, in Africa, is 5,895m above sea level. This makes it seem quite small in comparison to Mount Everest, but if you took another measurement from the base of the mountain to the summit a different picture arises. Mount Kilimanjaro is then nearly 400m taller than Everest.
One step further to find the tallest mountain then you would need to go to
Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Although it is only a climb of 4,205m to the summit of the volcano, the base has been measured as being 6,000m below sea level. This would then place Mauna Kea nearly a mile taller than Everest at 10,210m.
In 1802 the ‘Great Trigonometrical Survey’ was conducted to measure the entire Indian subcontinent, endorsed by the East India Company. It was led by Lieutenant Colonel William Lambton who was supported by his junior…George Everest.
One of the main accomplishments was to measure the height of Peak XV, K2 and Kangenchunga. Initially known as ‘H’, by1850 it had become Peak XV and in 1856 was measured as the highest point above sea level in the world at 8,840m; in 1865 Peak XV was renamed Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest, Surveyor General of India, by the Royal Geographical Society.
