Shrinking Everest Only Half The Story...

Another instalment in the amazing shrinking Everest / receding glaciers saga, or in this case both of them.

No-one would be particularly bothered if, say, Skiddaw was shrinking, but such is the mountain celebrity pulling power of the world's highest peak, that every newspaper and his dog is running stories about Everest possibly shrinking by about four foot.

Note the 'possibly' there. The story appears to be that a Chinese survey has suggested that Chomolungma may have shrunk by up to four feet due to glacial recession caused by global warming. Now reports say that according to China Daily, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, working with the Chinese national women's mountaineering expedition, will use radar and GPS equipment to remeasure the peak.

Somewhat ironically, the last major survey of the mountain in 1999 suggested that it was, in fact, some seven feet higher than previously believed. Now it's been shrunk again.

It would all be something of a storm in a high altitude cooking pot, were it not for the extremely serious repercussions of glacial recession and global warming hitting many regions including the Khumbu around Everest. As temperatures rise, water levels in mountain lakes increase and the permafrost which binds the rocks and soil together starts to melt.

The result can be millions of tons of water held back only by barricades of gravel, if they give way, local valleys can be swept with massive floods known as alluvions, already a major problem in some parts of the Peruvian Andes where thousands have died in such floods. The Alps are threatened too and the ever-increasing rockfall in popular mountaineering areas is yet another pointer to the increases in temperature.

It's understandable that the mass media jump on the Everest bandwagon at every opportunity, but don't be distracted into thinking that glacial recession is just about the notional height of mountains, the underlying problems are far more serious.

More from The Independent, Sky News, Nepal News, TheGuardian, The Times and pretty much every other news source in the world...