Many people have spent a fortune and even lost their lives trying to accomplish the goal of climbing Mount Everest.

While climbing Mount Everest has never been a goal or even an idea of mine, flying for a view of the famed mountain on the Everest Express with Yeti Airlines was a highlight of our trip to the region a couple of years back.

Earlier in the day I came across some very interesting news from Lonely Planet, Mount Everest’s height has increased by almost a meter.

I immediately wondered how a mountain could grow in height.

It turns out that it’s all due to measurement. According to Lonely Planet, “Nepal and China have announced a change to the height of Mount Everest after surveyors from both countries came together to agree on a new height..”

China had listed Everest’s height at 8,844.43m. This was almost 4 meters lower than Nepal’s measurement. With the agreement between the two countries (whose borders go across the summit), its height now stands at 8,848.86m. That’s an increase of .86m! (Around 2.8 feet.)

So why did the two countries have such a difference of opinions when it came to the height of Mount Everest? Nepal felt that the snow on the top of the summit should count towards the height while China only included the rock height.

For those of you dreaming of climbing Mount Everest, be warned. Now you’ll have an addition .83 meters to climb!

Find out more from Lonely Planet here.