According to traditional measurement, with an altitude of nearly 9,000 m above sea level, Mount Everest is still the highest mountain in the world. But if you look at it from many different angles, there are two mountains that surpass Everest in height: the peak of Chimborazo in the Andes and Mauna Kea in the Hawaiian archipelago in the Pacific region.
Traditionally, altitude was defined as the distance above sea level. This is related to the standard mean sea level and nowadays there are quite different sea levels in different regions. So maybe we will have to change the standard metric.
Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is 6,268 meters above sea level, lower than Mount Everest (8,848 meters high). But according to the New York Times, if the mountain’s height is defined as the total vertical distance between the base of the mountain and the peak, then Mount Chimborazo is the tallest mountain in the world.
This happens because the Earth is actually a flat mass at the poles and slightly bulging at the equator, rather than a perfect sphere. Mount Chimborazo is located closer to the equator than Mount Everest to the north, making its summit the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the Earth.
According to Geology, if based on the criteria of the height of the mountain from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii, USA is the highest mountain on the planet. Mauna Kea is an extinct volcano in the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean region.
Mauna Kea has an altitude of 4,205 m above sea level, much lower than Everest. But Mauna Kea is an island. And the height of Mauna Kea from bottom to top is about 10,200 m (its bottom is about 6,000 m below sea level, and its top is 4,205 m above sea level). Meanwhile, Everest is located mainly on land, so the height of Everest from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain is 8,849 m. Therefore, according to the height criterion from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, Mauna is the “highest” mountain in the world.