UKC

Evening all,
Turns out it's not as simple as I thought. Goes like this...

Mt Everest is the tallest mountain measured from sea level.

Mt Chimborazo in Ecuador is the tallest measured from the center of the earth.

Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest measured from its base to its summit.

Who knew, eh?

(It kept me entertained finding that out but apologies for any boredom it causes to others)

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

But surely, if the universally accepted datum is sea level then...

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Kinder Scout is the highest in Derbyshire... Where will this end?

In reply to Clauso:

Probably not if you measure from the centre of the earth.

In reply to Andes:

Mount Doom is the highest if you measure it from the centre of Middle Earth.....

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
What if 3 pebble slab were on Mt Chimborazo, would it make E1 then?

In reply to Clauso:

Potentially with Armageddon, hopefully a few years away yet.

In reply to sbc_10:

But what's it's height above sea (of Rûhn) level?

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
Not our local sand dunes then, their base is the Mariana Trench ?

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

It's the old 'Highest v Tallest' chestnut: -

http://geology.com/records/highest-mountain-in-the-world.shtml

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Just for the record, are we referring to African or European mountains here?... Laden, or unladen?

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

None of these consider the most interesting question to a bunch of climbers and wannabe alpinists.

Which mountain is "tallest" - i.e. (in my own stilted definition) - which mountain has the largest gain in altitude from where it stops being a "comfortable stroll" and becomes a "climb".

E.g. The nordwand is 5,800ft; the eiger is 13,020ft amsl.

In reply to neuromancer:
Never entirely easy to define, but Nanga Parbat's the mountain usually quoted in that regard -

"To the south, Nanga Parbat boasts what is often referred to as the highest mountain face in the world: the Rupal Face rises 4,600 m (15,090 ft) above its base. To the north, the complex, somewhat more gently sloped Rakhiot Flank rises 7,000 m (22,966 ft) from the Indus River valley to the summit in just 25 km (16 mi), one of the 10 greatest elevation gains in so short a distance on Earth." [Wikipedia]

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
Rum Doodle is 40,000 1/2 ft high.

Any mountaineer who has been high will confirm that it tops all other peaks.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I *love* "sea level".
I love the fact that we've chosen something that epitomises restless movement of waves and tides, and flattened it into a reference point.

In reply to JJL:

Perhaps you mean Mean See Level.

In reply to Eeyore:

I think this thread needs to put things in perspective........

youtube.com/watch?v=dS12p0Zqlt0&

In reply to Clauso:


Is the earth on a conveyor belt at the time?

In reply to Greasy Prusiks: Isn't the worlds tallest mountain the one having the most fun?

Andy F

In reply to andy farnell:


This one perhaps ????

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g187302-d3627646-Reviews-Wa...

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Everest.

In reply to abseil:

Everest.

Everest is the highest.
Mauna Kea is the tallest.

In reply to FactorXXX:

Or is it aconcagua?

The Peru/Chile trench is over 20000ft deep only 100 miles or so offshore; and aconcagua's summit at almost 23000ft is only 100 miles or so inland. That's a height different of over 40000ft in under 300 miles- a greater range in a shorter distance than anywhere else on the planet. ..

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

You're all wrong - it's Olympus Mons. at ~20km high. The world owns Mars, and thus we own Olympus Mons.
Now if the question had been "what's the tallest mountain on Earth"...

In reply to FactorXXX:




Thanks - caught out by s'mantics once again!

In reply to Trangia:

I enjoyed The Ascent of Rum Doodle a lot, but found it very easy. In fact I managed the whole thing last winter whilst bed-ridden with flu, in just 6 hours, 14 minutes and 16 seconds. Definitely easier than Three Pebble Slab.
Would like to add it to my UKC logbook.... but I can't find it anywhere on here.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:



That's what I was told doing 'A' level all those years ago!

In reply to sbc_10:


I always got the impression that mount doom was a bit of a pimple compared to the surrounding mountains and Caradhras. It only gets it's status from standing by itself.

In reply to JIMBO:


It's likely that it would be less than HVS because the gravitational attraction of the earth is [very slightly] less at the equator.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Worth climbing it at full moon as well, when the gravitational pull of the moon slightly counteracts that of the earth, can knock a grade or two off some routes.

In reply to Bob Aitken:

I thought Rakaposhi on the other side of the Indus valley had the highest uninterrupted rise at >6000m. The biggest uninterrupted flanks in the Alps are a bit above 3000m (e.g. the Weisshorn east side as seen from the Dom hut ascent, no intermediate ridges or summits between Randa at about 1300m and the summit at a bit above 4500.
Two such flanks stacked on top of each other would definitely be a sight I would like to see, but I hold little hope it will get safer in our lifetime.

CB

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

I thought it was the Wichersham wall on Denali which is 5,500m high.

In reply to sbc_10:

Imperialist bastard. You mean Orodruin...

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

The mountain with the longest ascent from the valley to the summit is Denali

In reply to Red Rover:


how many people ascend it without flying in though?

In reply to JJL:



Me too!
I also love the fact that sea level is not a nice, neat circle around the world - assuming you could cut canals through all the continents to let the oceans flow into each other - but wobbles up and down like a wiggly skin of a particularly squishy satsuma

In reply to Babika:

How else would you measure it?m Height from valley floor is going to be tough, with most mountain vallies not being nice and neat.