Khim Lal Gautam and Rabin Karki, the government surveyors on a mission to measure the height of Mt Everest and collect other data, successfully reached the summit at 3:15 on May 22. A team of three Sherpas—Chhiring Jangbu Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa and Lakpa Thindu Sherpa—guided them to the top.
This is the first time Nepal is measuring the height of Mt Everest. The current measurement of 8,848 meters was finalized by an Indian survey team in 1954. Back in 1999, an American expedition team had claimed that the height of the world’s tallest mountain had increased to 8,850 meters.
The government sent the team of surveyors to measure the height of Mt Everest to establish the real height, which may or may not have changed following the 2015 earthquakes. The team is said to have spent half-an-hour on the peak, also collecting the temperature, humidity, gravity and other data.
The survey team was helped extensively by helicopters from Simrik Air which carried important equipment to high altitudes. The rough terrains of high altitude mountains make it impossible to carry all the required equipment for such an expedition on foot. Simrik Air made more than 50 flights on this expedition.
