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Mount Everest is now a few feet higher after officials in Nepal and China agreed on a new officially recognized height measurement for the world’s tallest peak.
NPR reported Tuesday that the new measurement is 8,848.86 meters, about two feet higher than the previous measurement.
The new official measurement was announced at a joint press conference held by the leaders of China and Nepal.
“Today is a historic day,” Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari said in a letter addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to NPR.
“Indeed, completing this important task with our own human resources and technical capabilities is a significant achievement. As we share this happy moment, I extend my sincere congratulations to the governments and peoples of Nepal and China.”
The two countries collaborated on the new study effort because of Everest’s location on the Nepalese-China border deep in the Himalayas. The latest measurement takes into account the changes that have occurred in the landscape as a result of plate tectonics and earthquakes that have occurred in recent years.
Tuesday’s announcement ends a year-long recognition of a measurement produced by an Indian inspection team in 1955, which measured the peak to be 29,029 feet above sea level.
The peak is a popular tourist attraction for mountain climbing enthusiasts and others.
It is often crowded during the limited climbing season, leading to debris accumulating on the mountain at a rate that has made headlines in recent years due to the difficulty of removing it from the icy landscape of Everest.
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