China Telecom broadcast images of Mount Everest via 5G
If there’s one thing that everyone is almost certain they know, it’s that Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.
Located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas, it has become a popular trekking region despite the risks and dangers associated with it.
At least 322 people have died on the mountain since records began in 1922, an average of 4.4 deaths per year, signalling that Everest is the mountain of mountains.
Yet, there is one mountain that potentially poses an even greater risk than Everest and one that is technically even bigger.
You’ll likely never heard of the Ecuadorian volcano Mount Chimborazo, but it dwarfs its Nepalese brother by a country mile.
READ MORE ‘I had my records taken away because I was five metres short of one summit’
A stratovolcano located in the impressive Andes mountains range, Chimborazo looms over everything in its vicinity.
It is so big that on a clear day, you can spot it all the way from the large port city of Guayaquil some 90 miles away.
While Chimborazo is Ecuador’s highest point, it is far from the highest peak in the Andes.
There are far more breathtaking mountains across the South American continent, many of which are situated farther south, in Chile and Argentina.
So how, then, is Chimborazo the highest mountain on Earth?
Don’t miss…
The pretty town flanked by beautiful scenery and not one but two national parks[REPORT]
Staggering moment Mount Etna erupts spewing mountains of ash and lava into air[LATEST]
Fury as wild ponies ‘brutally’ rounded up by ‘yelling rangers on quad bikes'[INSIGHT]
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
It all comes from the fact that the Earth isn’t perfectly round but bulges at the equator and flattens at the poles.
The combined effects of gravity and rotational centrifugal force have basically pushed the Earth’s mass outward around its middle.
Earth’s true shape is often called an “oblate ellipsoid”, and looks a bit like a squashed orange.
While the bulge isn’t massive, it’s enough to tip Chimborazo just over Everest.
While Chimborazo’s true height is 20,702 feet — almost two miles lower than Everest — that’s only compared to sea level.
If the equatorial bulge is factored in, if the peak farthest from the centre of the Earth is measured, Chimborazo soars 7,000 feet further into space than any of the Himalayan peaks.
This is because they’re located thousands of miles north of the equator.
There are other contenders in the list, like Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, whose base begins well below sea level and so could technically be considered the tallest in the world.
Source: Read Full Article