Height of the Tallest Mountain on Earth "Mountains are generally measured from sea level, in which case Mount Everest (29,028 feet; 8,848 meters) is king." "Hawaii's Mauna Kea, though, rises an astonishing 33,476 feet (10,203 meters) from the depths of the Pacific Ocean floor. Measuring from base to peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on earth." "A third way to determine the world's highest mountain is to measure the distance from the center of the earth to the peak. Using this method, Chimborazo in the Andes triumphs. Although it stands but 20,561 feet (6,267 meters) above sea level, its peak is the farthest from the earth's center. " http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/BeataUnke.shtml
How about skiing down it ... now if he had snowboarded down it, then I would be impressed. Mt. Everest, 7th of october 2000 It was a historical day for Slovenian. Davo Karnicar, of Jezersko, Slovenia, accomplished an uninterrupted ski descent from the top of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (8,848m). At 8 a.m. local time (4.15 CEST), Davo started his historical ascent, fulfilling his longtime dream to which he aspired already in 1996 when a snowstorm halted his efforts. Today, in only five hours, Davo skied uninterruptedly, without taking skis off, from the top of the mountain to base camp at 5,340m. http://www.everest.simobil.si/eng/davo.shtml
And now for the No Sh*t Sherlock sign of the day: Posted atop Mt. Everest: This symbol designates “most difficult.” It means that trails with this rating are among the most challenging at that ski area. Some skiers and snowboarders think that they can improve their skills faster by skiing or riding on tougher terrain. We respectfully disagree. Pushing your limits exposes you to unnecessary additional risk of injury, and can also greatly diminish the quality of the experience for skiers and snowboarders who have developed their technique to the point where the terrain is appropriate for them.
Hmmmmm... Heli-Skiing/boarding Mt. Everest $$$ Hmmmmm... Designing a Helicopter that can go over 20,000 ft. $$$$$
The feeling you get when passing the frozen remains of the last jackass that tried to ski Everest: Priceless.
I'd have to hunt down some facts to back this up, but Mt. McKinley (Denali) here in Alaska is actually supposed to be tallest mountain in the world in terms of vertical rise. Usually, altitude is measured from sea level, and while Everest at 29,028 feet is about 9,000 feet higher than Denali at 20,320 feet, the base of Everest is (I believe) around 10,000 feet, while the base of Denali is down close to sea level, hence the difference. That's just off the top of my head, if anybody knows differently I'd be curious to hear it.
I think the next 'extreme' decent of Mt. Everest should be someone rolling down in a barrel. http://www.mounteverest.net/news/newspages/candz.htm
