By height above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Measure from base to summit, though, and Mauna Kea in Hawaii wins. Its base lies deep below sea level, so in total it’s taller than Everest. Mauna Kea is a sacred place in Hawaiian culture, and you’ll also find astronomical observatories on it.
Mount Everest isn’t the highest mountain in the world. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is, if you measure from base to summit. Its base lies about 5,000 metres below sea level, so its total height is over 9,000 metres.
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world if you go by height above sea level, taking sea level as the base.
Which is the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest or Mauna Kea?
This article is part of my Milan Busts Myths series, where I regularly take apart all sorts of travel myths that Slovaks believe. The other myths in the series are worth a look too.
Mauna Kea in Hawaii: 4,207 m above sea level and another 5,000 m below it
Mauna Kea is a shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. It’s dormant, about a million years old, and last erupted between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago. The mountain is deeply important to Hawaiian culture and a sacred place for many Native Hawaiians.
Mauna Kea is also home to many astronomical observatories. The climate at the summit of Mauna Kea is excellent for astronomy, with very little smog and dust and plenty of clear nights.
Mount Everest’s height above sea level
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world only if you measure its height from sea level. On that measure it comes out on top, at 8,848.86 metres above sea level. It stands in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and China.
Mount Everest was first climbed on 29 May 1953 by the New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay. By the end of 2025, more than 7,500 different people had stood on its summit. Several climbers die on the mountain every year. The biggest dangers are altitude sickness, avalanches and extreme weather.
Everest is also a popular tourist destination. Tens of thousands of visitors come every year to look at the mountain from a safe distance.
A few interesting facts about Mount Everest
- Mount Everest is named after the British surveyor George Everest, who headed the geodetic survey of India in the 19th century.
- Mount Everest is covered in ice and snow all year round.
- The average temperature at the summit is minus 36 degrees Celsius.
- Winds at the summit reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour.
- Atmospheric pressure at the summit is only 33% of the pressure at sea level.
- Most ascents of Mount Everest take place in May, when there’s a short window of better weather between winter and the monsoon.
I’ve debunked another travel myth in my article Where does the waste from a plane toilet go when I flush? Milan Busts Myths.
A Slovak travel blogger who has been getting Slovaks out of their office chairs since 2013. Author of the book Influencer and founder of the Bez Mapy blog. "Bez Mapy" is Slovak for "without a map".
