the 17th comment gives the best answer. there is a difference between tallest and highest. and although Mauna Kea is the tallest. if you would like to view the tallest mountain by eye check out McKinley

Mauna Kea, and Mauna Loa (100' shorter) are the tallest by far. Sure water covers over half of these mountains, but they are the tallest. If the tallest tree was growing out of a lake 50 feet deep, it would still be the tallest tree and I'd measure it from its bottom/base. P.S. Mauna Loa is the most massive mountain too, it has 10,000 cubic miles of mass. Think about it.

Everest isn't even the second tallest. As far as I know, above sea level {for climbers, flyers, and anything other then fish}, Mckinley {Denali} of Alaska is the tallest mountain in the world. If you were to stand at it's base, or anywhere around it for that matter, it would tower over all other mountains. Everest is actually only 12,000 feet tall. Mckinley is 18,000 feet tall. Climb that sucker. "Alaska; we do everything big."

I tend to agree with anon29822 and Fact. Mauna Kea and Chimborazo are irrelevant to me, as you don't start an expedition either from the base of the ocean or from Earth's core. Also, while Everest may be the "highest" mountain on Earth as measured from sea level, it is by no means the "tallest" mountain on Earth.

I will say that height above sea level is a measurement which should never be disregarded, as the greatest dangers of the eight-thousanders are fierce weather and oxygen levels too low to support life (even with acclimatization, one cannot remain in the death zone for more than a day). Still, most interesting to me is the climb itself; specifically, the vertical relief of a mountain above surrounding terrain, and particularly the point from which the expedition begins. The first time I looked at the mountains on a globe as a kid, I thought for sure that Denali (McKinley) was the tallest of all. It rises some 18,000-19,000 feet above its base, which is only about 1,000 feet above sea level. Also, because of its latitude and proximity to the Pacific Ocean, Denali almost has a death zone of its own, and is also the site of some of the coldest and altogether worst weather on Earth. Note that Nanga Parbat's northern Rakhiot Flank rises almost 23,000 feet above the Indus River valley. However, I've never heard of an ascent via this route.

Of course, I wouldn't say that Denali is among the most dangerous; I think that title goes to Annapurna (frequent avalanches) and K2 (technical difficulty). Before a standard route was established on Nanga Parbat, about 3 out of 4 people who attempted the mountain died on it.

Who says the Mauna kea is the highest mountain in the world he/she is wrong!! according to the list of heights above rest is the Everest is the highest! Duh!

If i might add, some people are mistaking 'highest' and 'tallest.' If one would argue highest, Everest would be what one would be looking for at 8850m above sea level. The tallest however can be measure from sea level or below. Tallest period would be Mauna Kea measuring over 30,000ft from its base below sea level, and tallest from sea level would be Kilimanjaro, followed closely by Denali, i believe.

anon18804- If you stand on the top of Mt. Everest you will not be the highest object on planet Earth. For one thing if there is someone with you who is taller, they would be higher up and also airplanes can fly higher than 29,035 feet, and so can space shuttles.

Carstensz Pyramid(4884 meters) is now considered the summit of Australasia. Australasia is sometimes called Oceana. If every land mass is to be assigned to some continent, then Indonesia should be part of Oceania (Australasia). It is true that it is an island but so is New Zealand.

If you want to consider the base of the mountain as the standard to measure, then Sagarmatha (mt_everest) base can be still considered to be same as base of Mauna Kea with all other "peaks" from that base as intermediate points towards Sagarmatha!

If a man, measuring 4 feet in height stands on a 4 foot tall stool, is he taller than a man measuring 6 feet? No, he simply is higher than him. Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain, and Everest is the highest.

Seriously guys. It all depends on which measure we are based upon. If we do measure mountains the way we measure humans, then no doubt, Mauna Kea is the tallest and Everest would be out of the league.

Unless climbers start at the seafloor, I don't see how Mauna Kea's 20,000 feet are relevant. :P

Does anyone know what the longest 'climb' is? In other words, what mountain provides the longest distance between the "trail-head" (i.e. point at which you get out of the car/truck/helicopter/plane/dog-sled) and the summit?

Both as-the-bird-flies and "trail"-length would be interesting to know.

Thanks, CL

Let’s keep to the facts. The term tall stands for the vertical size of something. Everest has a base of around 15,000 feet above sea level, so it cannot be considered even close to being the tallest mountain in the world. It is clearly the highest peak or point on Earth. Denali (McKinley) in Alaska only reaches 6194 meters above sea level, but the base is about 1000 feet above sea level and is considered taller than Everest. There may be other mountains above sea level that are taller than Everest. Mauna Kea of Hawaii still has the record using below and above sea level measurement for a single mountain. Above sea level it is Denali (McKinley) of Alaska.

Now everybody knows Everest is tallest mountain!

Mauna Kea is not the tallest mountain. Mountains should be measured from height above sea level. Therefore Everest is the tallest mountain. If you really want to get technical and say that Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain, you are still wrong. There is a mountain in Guam that is more than 37,000 feet to its base. That is because its base is in the Marianas Trench. So Mauna Kea is not the tallest Mountain, deal with it.

Anon7004 - perhaps according to your definition, Mauna Kea is not a mountain but according to record books, geology.com and most geologists, it is a mountain. Perhaps you are more of an expert than they are....

We regard Everest as the tallest because when you stand on the top of it, no object on Earth is higher than you. I don't care that Mauna Kea is taller if you measure from the base. If you stand on top of it you are quite simply not very high up at all.

There are many ways to measure mountains. Base to summit is the best in my opinion. Everest has the highest elevation, but many mountains have greater vertical relief (elevation gain from base to summit) and would appear taller to the naked eye.

Mauna Kea is considered a dormant not extinct volcano. Though it hasn't erupted in 3600 years.

Mt Everest is still growing* (*well, getting bigger because mountains don't grow like us but i will use that term for now) because india is pushing into nepal and china and other asian countries, which is why many earthquakes happen around that area, also to note the Alps in Europe are young mountains because they to are also still growing* and the mountains in Scotland such as Ben nevis are very old mountains. they used to be bigger than Mt Everest they have only eroded over millions of years. mauna kea by definition isn't a mountain it is a volcano as it is not created by two continental plates pushing together creating fold mountain also note the volcano is extinct.

what ever happened to mention of slightly taller peak nearby mt Everest? i used to hear about it ten years ago or so but not anymore. was this disproved via modern technologies?

Wow! That's so interesting! So, I did a bit of research, and here's what I've learned:

When measured from sea level, Everest is the tallest mountain. In fact, all the measurements in our article describe height above sea level.

However, if measured from the base of the mountain (where the base could be below sea level), Mauna Kea is the tallest--over 33,000 feet! Amazing that more than half the height of the mountain (20,000 feet) is actually under water!

This page keeps listing Everest as the tallest mountain in the world, yet it is not, not by over 4000 feet! The tallest mountain in the world is Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Please get that right, as you are doing a disservice by posting incorrect information. Everest is merely the highest mountain and the second tallest.