A team of Chinese mountaineers and explorers have set up a survey beacon and are using GPS and radar equipment to try to determine the current height of Everest after the Chinese Academy of Sciences disclosed that it believed the mountain was growing.
Last measured in 1999 by an American group, the known height of Everest is 8,850m, in itself a nearly two-metre increase on the 1975 measurement. Of course this does raise the question of whether the measurements are growing or just getting more (or even less) accurate as technology changes. Either way the Chinese twopenn'rth won't be released until August.
Even if the mountain is growing in height it'll do little to make up for the shrinking of the mountain in terms of its melting glaciers, which the Chinese survey will also assess. Thought to be caused by global warming, the melting of the mountain's glaciers presents a serious ecological hazard, particuarly in the form of flooding and rockfall.
