2015-05-03

I'm Gonna Take that Mountain

Did the Nepalese earthquake move Mount Everest?

Unlikely, but currently inconclusive is the general sense.

The slip at the fault line was three metres, just north of Kathmandu, which means some houses in the area are now further south than they used to be. Not three metres further south, but further south nonetheless.

With the related devastation in the area, eyes turn to Mt. Everest. The world's tallest mountain is unlikely to have moved by more than a few millimetres, and almost certainly (but not conclusively) the mountain will be bigger today than it was a week or a month ago.

Everest wasn't unaffected by the quake, not even remotely. Seventeen people are dead after a massive avalanche related to the quake which destroyed the Everest base camp. As well, the path through the Khumbu icefield that takes you up the mountain is gone, and it's unclear when it will be available again. Everest may be unscalable for the foreseeable future.

And, as the Reddit thread on the subject jokes, if the mountain is taller again than everybody who scaled Everest pre-earthquake is about to have their achievement diminished. Even if it's only by a few millimetres.