UKC

I stumbled across this gem when looking for something completely different:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geography_089_-_Map_of_highest_moun...

It's quite hi-res, so you can really dig into the details. Interesting to see how it refers to Russian America (Alaska) and British America (Canada).

Interesting stuff:

• Ben Macdui still higher than Ben Nevis
• Everest & K2 & others - not found them yet, or at least not measured
• Denali - nope, not found that one yet, or not measured, I'd guess the locals knew about it being pretty big

And many others still waiting to be found - some of the British Isles heights are pretty close though

Curiously mountains tend to get lower over time as surveying accuracy increases. There are several "former" Alps 4000ers. I think Everest was measured astonishingly accurately the first time, however.

29,002 from about 150 miles away back in the 19th C, error of only about 0.1% when they had to consider things like atmospheric refraction - pretty impressive

I was pleased to see "Dhawalagiri" as the highest mountain on earth on that map. I've not been to the Himalaya, but from photos of the 8,000ers it's always been the one that's appealed to me the most, this enormous, bulky mass of impossible size and height.

I remember reading that it was measured at exactly 29,000ft, but they thought no-one would believe them so they added the 2ft

They actually measured it at 29,000ft exactly and just added the extra 2ft because they thought everyone would assume their careful measurement was just a best guess to the nearest 1000 otherwise.

D'Oh!  (I was way too slow off the mark.)

I heard about this on QI on the telly.  Wikipedia says it's true and cites this as a source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00031305.1982.10482782

Yeah there's a pub quiz trick question about this "Who was the first person to put two feet on the top of Everest?"

Yeah, the lack of Everest was the first thing I spotted. I’m guessing it’s like aging a map of London by its bridges and tunnels over and under the Thames. Once I got started I couldn’t stop. Having spotted Dhawalagiri was that tallest mountain listed in Asia, I went off on a mahoosive wikipedia trip down memory lane - I went off piste and started looking up the Kali Gandaki Gorge, then that remonded me of my time in the Kaski region of Nepal. Back to the map I haven’t even started on the rivers 😂. So much fun!

Curious that Piz Bernina, highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, is not mentioned. I think it’s very noticeable from a long distance away, in many directions. Or perhaps I’m wrong?

But it didn't have a name until the following year.

Come to think of it, I wrote a little piece for the Wiki on one of the first ascensionists, Johann Coaz, and you might be interested in a discussion about the summit photo, which perplexed me at the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Johann_Coaz

I think also worth bearing in mind that travel and maps etc were rare in 1849. Even 10 years later it was much easier and quicker to travel by rail. 

Yes, that’s very interesting. I’m slightly suspicious of the photo however, because it doesn’t really look like a daguerrotype, does it? And wouldn’t a daguerrotype have been simply too complicated to set up and take on a summit like that? One wonders if perhaps the first ascensionists made a repeat ascent a year or two later ???

Hmm, I'm afraid I lack the knowledge to have an opinion. I would now agree with Cucumber Mike, however, that Coaz is the man in the middle.