Reaching New Heights

The world’s tallest mountain is a little taller than it used to be. The new official height of Mount Everest is 29,032 feet.

Everest sits on the border between two Asian countries, China and Nepal. Since the 1950s, Nepal had said that the mountain was 29,028 feet above sea level. But China had said it was several feet shorter.

The leaders of Nepal and China decided to work together to settle the dispute once and for all.

The job of finding out the exact height of Everest was up to surveyors—people who determine the size of pieces of land. Teams from both nations had to make the dangerous trek to the summit, or top. They carried Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. These devices use technology like our smartphones use to track our exact location.

The teams also took other measurements with tools positioned around the mountain. Surveyors used all the data they collected to calculate the exact height.

Now people who climb Mount Everest will know exactly what great heights they have reached!