Scientists from the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, using the latest satellite equipment belonging to the Global Positioning System (GPS) have lopped four metres (12ft) off Mount Everest (Mount Qomolangma in Tibetan). It's now down to 8,844.43 meters (29,017 feet) from a high of 29,029 feet (old money) when they last measured the world's highest mountain back in 1975. This height is the height of the rock, not the summit ice. This latest measurement differs somewhat from a 1999 measurement made by American scientists also using GPS satellite equipment that found the height of the mountain to be 8,850 meters (29,035 feet).