Nepal and China have jointly announced that Mount Everest is 0.86m higher than had been previously officially calculated. The new height is 8,848.86m (29,032 ft). Much to Nepal's chagrin China's previous official measurement of 8,844.43m had put the mountain four meter lower than Nepal's. Now the two countries along whose border the mountain has for close to 60 million years is four meters higher.
The discrepancy between the Chinese measurement and the Nepalese measurement was a result of the fact that the latter insisted that the snow at the summit should also be counted. That gave the mountain the extra four meters.
I mentioned the mountain's age because it rose as a direct result of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The collision literally lifted the ground and made it into the Himalaya. That happened between 50 and 60 million years ago.
The news of Everest's new height reminds me of a post I had written in February, 2018. It bears repeating.
February 5, 2018
If life were fair, Mount Everest would be Mount Sikdar or Mount Radhanatah. It was Sikdar, an Indian mathematician (1813-1870), along with a team of others who employed a method known as triangulation to first calculate the height of the great mountain.
Known until then as just Peak XV, Sikdar and the team came up with the number 29,002 feet, which is remarkably close to the most widely accepted height of 29,029 feet.
A story in The New York Times today by Bhadra Sharma and Kai Schultz specifically mentions Sikdar’s pioneering work, which has been known in India for a long time. Since Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India, was the one who hired Sikdar and the team to measure the height, the honor of the mountain being named went to him. It was in 1852 that Sikdar announced the team’s calculation but its final record was created in 1856.
It is not my case that Everest did nothing—may be he did indeed do something—but Sikdar’s name did not even make it to the base camp of history. It was only much later that it was resurrected and acknowledged.
I see a fascinating documentary or even a film waiting to be made about Sikdar and his work against the backdrop and in the shadow of the world’s greatest mountain. With some luck, I may embark on that journey soon. I would call the movie “Mt. Sikdar.” Remember you read it here first and it, along with a feature treatment, is copyrighted.
I had done a piece about the great rivalry between Kanchenjunga and Everest on April 30, 2014. I even wrote a sonnet about it. Until 1852, Kanchenjunga was considered the tallest mountain on the planet. That changed significantly because of Sikdar’s calculations.
The Kanchenjugna stands at 8,598 meters (28,209 feet) as compared to the 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) for Mt. Everest. That makes Everest about 250 meters higher.
I wrote a sonnet about the two mountains. (See below). Admittedly, Shakespeare would not be too pleased with the quality of my sonnet but since I have written it I might as well use it. Sonnets are written in 14 lines and follow a specific rhyme scheme. I have at least adhered to the 14-lines part of it. The rhyming part is clearly labored and not in accordance with sonnets’ rules. I am conscious that I should not consider giving up my current career to become a fulltime sonneteer.
I write this sonnet
As once the highest mountain on the planet
You were then just “Peak XV”
And I was your envy
Then came 1852
When they found you
To be 250 meters taller
That made me holler
Why first exalt me?
And then salt me
In my wounded pride
But, you are still by my side
Always in eternal rest
You, Mount Everest
--Mayank Chhaya
