China and Nepal Revised Mount Everest Altitude

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China and Nepal announced revisions to the height of the world's highest mountain , Everest . The two countries said the mountain was 0.86 meters higher than before. The two countries agree that Mount Everest's new height is 8,848.86m. Even so, until now they had disagreements about whether to include a snow hat on it or not. Previously, China stated that the height of Mount Everest is 8,844.43 meters or four meters lower than Nepal. Everest is on the border between China and Nepal where mountaineers can climb from either side.

Officials at Nepal's foreign ministry and survey department said surveyors from the two countries had coordinated to agree on the new heights. The agreement to jointly announce the new measurement of the highest point on Earth was made during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal's capital Kathmandu last year. Chinese authorities said beforehand that Mount Everest should be measured to the height of its rocks, while Nepalese authorities argue that snow above the summit should be included. Chinese surveyors calculated their numbers after they measured the mountain in 2005.

Nepalese government officials told the BBC in 2012 that they were under pressure from China to accept the Chinese version of the elevation and that they had therefore decided to take new measurements to set a live altitude record for good.