How do you measure Everest? It’s complicated by frostbite and politics.
There were no dramatic views taken in or heroic photographs snapped when Khimlal Gautam, a 35-year-old Nepali surveyor and mountaineer, climbed to the top of Mount Everest on May 22, 2019. Gautam and his team had timed their ascent to arrive at around 3 a.m. in the pitch black, when temperatures can plummet to their most lethal, so that they could have the summit to themselves in the midst of one of the busiest climbing seasons in the mountain s storied history.
On the peak s highest crest of snow, Gautam, aided by another Nepali surveyor and three Sherpa guides, set up a GPS antenna, which began recording its precise position from a network of satellites. Next, the men deployed ground-penetrating radar to measure the depth of the snow beneath their crampons. The two dark, frigid hours they worked on the world s highest mountain were not without personal sacrifice: Gautam would later lose a toe to frostbite.
Now more than 15 months later, the results of their efforts a new official height for Mount Everest are eagerly anticipated. The project, spearheaded by Nepal s Survey Department, was intended to pinpoint the summit elevation as accurately as possible with state-of-the-art instruments and techniques but also to make a statement of national pride.