The Mount Everest is 3.7 metres shorter than in 1975 when it was measured last according to a recent announcement by the Chinese government in Beijing. The elevation of Mt Everest’s summit rock is 8844.43 metres, with a precision of 10.21 metres as announced by the Director General of the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Chen Bangzhu who presented the results of a survey. The elevation data of Mt Qomolangma (Chinese name for Mt Everest) published in 1975 will cease to be used within China. Chinese surveyors, armed with latest GPS and radar measuring equipment, spent 40 minutes at the summit to take the measurements. The Chinese surveyors found that the thickness of the ice and snow layer covering the summit rock is 3.5 metres now, using ice and snow detector. This latest figure was much higher than that of 1975 when surveyors estimated the figure at 0.90 metres by thrusting a steel rod into the ice to calculate its depth.
