Contrary to popular belief, the answer is Ecuador, as the Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. As the Earth is constantly spinning, centrifugal force causes it to bulge out at the equator much like a water balloon would if you placed it on a table and pressed on the top.

Let’s look at Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. The summit of Chimborazo is 6,267 m (20,561 ft) above sea level, which is quite large but not quite the highest mountain in the Andes. If you take into account the Earth’s equatorial bulge, a straight line from the summit down to the estimated centre of our planet would be 6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi).

Now look at Mount Everest, widely known as the tallest mountain in the world. The summit of Everest is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level, but a straight line from the summit to the centre of the Earth would only be 6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi).

So even though the summit of Chimborazo is about 2,400 m closer to sea level than Everest, it’s still 2,100 m further away from the centre of the Earth! By this logic, three more mountains (Huascaran, Cotopaxi and Kilimanjaro) around the world are actually “higher” than Everest as well.

Sadly our newly defined rules aren’t taken into account when deciding on the world’s highest mountain, so although Chimborazo is ranked the highest in distance from the centre of the Earth, Mount Everest still wins since we always measure to sea level.

If you’re a climber and neither one these appeals, you could always try Gangkhar Puensum in Bhutan. It’s considered the highest unclimbed mountain in the world¹.

Locations: Bhutan, Ecuador, Nepal / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Volcanoes

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Boudhanath Stupa near Kathmandu in Nepal is one of the largest in the world, and it is a focal point for Tibetan refugees in Nepal. During religious festivals the stupa is lined with thousands of oil lamps which provide an incredibly atmospheric view for the thousands of people circumambulating the structure.

Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, India is considered the oldest known stupa, having been built around 500AD to replace an earlier structure. It represents the original, simpler design of stupas – being simply a column of bricks and stone.

In the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, one of the first and largest stupas in North America, this stupa was built to commemorate Chogyam Trungpa, a respected teacher who helped develop Buddhism in the West.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: The Shwedagon Pagoda, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

There’s lots more to learn at the Wikipedia entries for Bodhnath, Dhamek and Dharmakaya.

Thanks to Davee, Evelyn Mitchell, Michael and Yuval.

Locations: Colorado, India, Nepal / Categories: Monuments, Structures

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Although not perhaps the most exciting shot out there, Google Earth’s terrain feature lets you see how high it really is.

Ascending the southeast ridge from the base camp at 5,380m (17,600ft), Hillary and his sherpa finally arrived at 11:30am, and stayed at the summit for just fifteen minutes. News of his success reached the soon-to-be Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation, and New Zealander Hillary was knighted in July of that year.

Everest is fraught with danger, and 120 bodies are thought to still remain on the mountain. Even so, more than 2060 individuals have ascended it from the surprisingly busy base camp, where you can even get internet access for $1 per minute!

Read about Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and Mount Everest at Wikipedia.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in; there were over 55 of you, so it would probably require a page of its own!

Locations: China, Nepal / Categories: Natural Landmarks

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