Where is the highest point in the world?

   The height of a mountain is usually measured from sea level up. Using this basis, the world's highest peak is Mount Everest, 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) above sea level. Those attempting to scale the summit encounter avalanches, deep crevasses, ferocious winds, sudden storms, freezing tempera­tures, and oxygen deprivation. In 1953, Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper, and Tenzing Norgan, a Tibetan Sherpa, were the first to reach the summit. Since then over 600 others have succeeded, and 160 have died trying. If the height of a mountain were measured from its base, even if the base was submerged in the ocean, the tallest mountain would be the volcano Mauna Loa on Hawaii Island: 33,796 feet from its base on the Pacific Ocean floor to its peak. By the traditional measurement standard, Mauna Loa's highest point is only 13,448 feet above sea level.