Everest is a monster. Honestly, just thinking about it makes my lungs feel a little tight. We always hear about it in meters or feet—usually 8,848 meters or 29,032 feet—but most of us don't actually think in "thousands of feet." We think in miles. So, if you were to drive your car straight up into the jet stream, the height of Mount Everest in miles would be almost exactly 5.5 miles.
Specifically, the math lands at 5.498 miles.
That is a staggering amount of verticality. To put that in perspective, if you took five Empire State Buildings and stacked them on top of each other, you wouldn’t even be close. You’d need more like twenty-three of them.
Why the Height of Mount Everest in Miles Keeps Changing
You've probably noticed that the "official" number seems to shift every few years. It’s not just because our GPS units are getting better, though that’s part of it. The mountain itself is actually moving.
Basically, India is crashing into Asia. It’s a slow-motion car wreck that has been happening for 50 million years. Because of this tectonic collision, the Himalayas are being pushed upward. But then you have things like the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, which actually caused some parts of the range to drop.
The 2020 Measurement
For a long time, China and Nepal couldn't agree on the height. China wanted to measure the "rock height," which is exactly what it sounds like—the height of the actual stone. Nepal insisted on including the snow cap. In 2020, they finally sat down, compared their data from GPS and BeiDou satellites, and settled on 8,848.86 meters.
Converted, that gives us our current height of Mount Everest in miles of approximately 5.5.
Wait. It gets weirder. Recent studies, including one from University College London in late 2024, suggest a river about 47 miles away is actually making Everest grow faster. The Arun River is carving a massive gorge, and as that rock is washed away, the Earth’s crust "floats" higher on the mantle. It’s called isostatic rebound. This little geological quirk adds about 2 millimeters of height every year.
Miles vs. The Death Zone
When you’re talking about 5.5 miles, you aren't just talking about distance. You're talking about a change in the literal chemistry of the air.
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At the summit, the atmospheric pressure is about one-third of what it is at sea level. Your body is basically dying the entire time you're up there. This is why climbers call the area above 26,000 feet (roughly 4.9 miles up) the Death Zone.
- Oxygen: There is so little of it that your cells can’t regenerate.
- Temperature: It can drop to -60°C (-76°F).
- Wind: Hurricane-force winds are a Tuesday afternoon on the summit.
If you were to stand at sea level and look up at something 5.5 miles away horizontally, it doesn't look that far. It’s a short jog. But 5.5 miles up? That’s where the commercial airplanes fly. When you’re standing on the summit of Everest, you are quite literally poking your head into the troposphere.
How We Measure This Giant
In the 1850s, a guy named Radhanath Sikdar calculated the height using nothing but trigonometry and heavy brass instruments called theodolites. He was only off by a few feet.
Modern surveyors use:
- GNSS Receivers: High-tech GPS that sits on the summit.
- Ground-Penetrating Radar: To see how thick the ice is.
- Gravity Surveys: To figure out exactly where "sea level" actually is under a mountain.
It’s surprisingly hard to define "up." Since the Earth isn't a perfect sphere—it’s more like a squashed potato—sea level varies depending on where you are.
Is it really the tallest?
Kinda. If you measure from sea level, yes. But if you measure from the base to the peak, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is technically taller, sitting at over 6 miles from the ocean floor to the top. And if you want to get really technical, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the "closest to space" because it sits on the Earth's equatorial bulge.
But Everest is the one that captures the imagination. It’s the 5.5-mile-high wall that every climber dreams of (or fears).
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Trivia Night (or Trek)
If you're planning on seeing this 5.5-mile-high peak for yourself, keep these facts in your back pocket. They’ll make you sound like the most seasoned expert at the teahouse.
- The Conversion: 29,031.7 feet / 5,280 = 5.498 miles.
- The Growth: Everest is getting taller by about the thickness of a nickel every year.
- The Trek: Most people don't climb the whole 5.5 miles. You fly into Lukla (9,383 ft) and trek to Base Camp (17,598 ft). You’re only actually "climbing" the last 2.2 miles or so.
- The Timing: May is the "window." The jet stream moves off the peak, giving humans a tiny, freezing chance to stand 5.5 miles in the sky.
If you ever find yourself looking at the peak from the Kala Patthar viewpoint, remember you're looking at a piece of the ancient ocean floor. There are sea fossils at the top. Imagine that: limestone and shells, sitting 5.5 miles above the sea they came from.
Nature is wild.