THE DETERMINATION OF THE HEIGHT OF THE QOMOLANGMA FENG

The Qomolangma Feng (Mt. Jolmo Lungma) is the world’s highest peak. Its accurate height above mean sea-level has long been the concern of the surveyors and geographers of the world. Since about a century, a number of attempts have been made at determining accurately the height of the peak. Owing to the restriction caused by the geographical conditions in the Qomolangma Feng area, it was unable to erect a beacon on the summit or to measure the thickness of the covering snow on it during the determination. Besides, it had not been possible to carry out all kinds of surveying work up to the close vicinity of the Qomolangma Feng. For all these reasons, the differences between the results of various determinations were quite enormous and the accuracy obtained was not satisfactory.In 1976, members of the Chinese mountaineering expedition for the first time erected on the summit of the Qomolangma Feng a metallic beacon and measured the thickness of the covering snow at the spot. At the same time, according to