Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, has shrunk, according to new data released by US geographers.
Mount McKinley, located in the US state of Alaska, measured 83ft shorter than previously understood.
The mountain now stands at 20,237ft. It was last officially measured in 1952, researchers said.
Mount McKinley, located in the US state of Alaska, measured 83ft shorter than previously understood
The US Geological Survey speculated that the reduced height could either be the result of more accurate measurement technology or of “climate differences”.
The US Geological Survey released the data as part of the agency’s effort to update all of Alaska’s topographic maps.
The new measurement was taken in 2012 using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, a technology designed to digitally track small geographic forms.
The 1952 measurement put the peak at 20,320ft, a figure that has remained on topographic maps since.
Mount McKinley, a popular mountaineering destination also known as Denali, is located in Denali National Park in the US state of Alaska.
The body of climber missing on Mountain Everest has been found today, bringing the death toll from the weekend to four, Nepali officials say.
The body of Chinese climber Ha Wenyi, 55, was spotted close to where three others died at the weekend, mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha told news agency AP.
The three were from South Korea, Germany and Canada.
All died while returning from the mountain’s summit, officials say.
The body of climber missing on Mountain Everest has been found today, bringing the death toll from the weekend to four
Ha Wenyi’s body was found by climbers in an area near the top of the 8,848-metre peak where Nepali-born Canadian Shriya Shah, 32, German Eberhard Schaaf, 61, and South Korean Song Won-bin, 44, also died.
But a Nepalese guide who was previously reported missing had reached the base camp, Gyanendra Shrestha said.
More than 300 climbers belonging to 33 different teams have received official permits to climb the mountain from the Nepali side this season, said mountaineering official Dipendra Poudel.
That figure does not include local Nepalese who are assisting the climbers, working as porters or helpers.
The mountain’s worst-ever climbing season was in 1996, when 15 climbers died, eight of them in one day.
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