No one can agree.
The exact height of Mt. Everest has been disputed since the first measurements of the peak were made. The broadly-accepted height of 8,848 meters was first recorded by an Indian survey in 1955 – but there is disagreement on whether snow on top of the mountain should be included in the height. And there is another complicating factor: Everest may be rising due to shifting continental plates. In May 1999 an American team used GPS technology to record a height of 8,850 meters – a figure that is now used by the National Geographic Society, although it has not been officially accepted by Nepal. The Nepalese government recently decided to re-measure the mountain to solve the problem once and for all. Stations will be set up at three different locations using the GPS, and in two years we’ll have an answer.
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