The politics and geography behind Mount Everest's new official height

The new agreement on the official height of Mount Everest is more of a political statement than a feat of science. The official height is now 8,848.86 metres, which is slightly less than a metre higher than the previous “official” figure.

As every mountaineer knows, Everest (aka Sagarmatha in Nepal, and Qomolangma in Tibet) has a North Face in Tibet, while the South Face is in Nepal. Geographical features on sensitive political borders often cause disputes, as Indians know.

The country that controls Tibet has been at the centre of several such disputes with India, and it is also involved