Throughout the early stages of the book, Krakauer goes out of his way to mention specific details about mountain heights. He references the 26,795-foot Dhaulagiri, his first summit: 9,000 feet, Everest itself 29,029 feet, K2: 28,251 feet, Vinson Massif at 16,067, etc. After seeing all these statistics I became curious about how tall mountains where and I did some research to show that there are bigger mountains under water and on other planets.
Mauna Kea is a 13,796 foot mountain. However that is just whats above water, from summit to base the mountain is 33,467 feet tall! Mauna Kea goes deep into the base of the pacific ocean so it is not enough the be officially classified as the world's tallest mountain. Not a major climb site, Mauna Kea is still used for astronomical observation because of its dry environment and high altitude.
Olympus Mons is a shield volcano on Mars. It is one of the tallest mountains in our solar system at 69,649 feet. Way above Everest and Mauna Kea Olympus Mons is a flattened dome or shield shape. It closely resembles the large volcanoes making up the Hawaiian Islands such as Mauna Kea.
Olympus Mons is bested only by a central peak of an impact crater on a protoplanet named Vesta. Vesta has a peak of 22km or 14 miles, while Olympus Mons is close at 21.9 km. Other notable mountains are the moon's Mons Huygens 5.5km (still taller than everest), and Earth's second tallest, Pico del Tiede (7.5km).
Always cite your sources.
ReplyDeleteFascinating stuff, Lucas. I was shocked to find out that (according to myscienceacademy.com) Mauna Kea is in fact the eighth-largest mountain in our solar system. That's pretty incredible. Also, apparently an asteroid called 4 Vesta has a mountain even larger than Olympus Mons, but it is often disqualified due to the fact that it isn't located on a planet or moon.
ReplyDeleteDanger Zone!