K2

[akibun 0]

I watched wonderful program on world mountain last night, there are many amaxing place.

 

I saw K2. Why is it called "K2"? I wonder if there is K1.

[white-void 0]

Tried to do a quick search on this but without success. Did find this though -

 

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A few years ago, I read in the World Almanac that Mt. Everest was no longer the tallest mountain on earth, K2 was.

 

K2 (sometimes called Godwin-Austen) hadn't grown (much), and Everest hadn't shrunk. (Incidentally, all of those mountains in and around the Himalayas are increasing in height, but only a fraction of an inch per year.) Instead, a new measurement of K2's height (supposedly more accurate) had shown that K2 was some hundreds of feet taller than had previously been thought. K2 was previously thought to be the second tallest mountain in the world. It seems that an airplane flew over K2 (see addendum #1), and measured the distance from the plane to the top of K2 by radar. And, the position of the plane was measured by radar. And, supposedly these measurements were accurate to within inches.

 

This pointed out how rough measurements of the past could be. And some of the mountains of that region were then measured by radar from a satellite. And, Everest leaped into the lead again. Whew.

[bobby12 0]

Well there is K-1 the fighting tournament.

 

I wonder if they called it K-1 to suggest that it is bigger than K2?

[mattlucas 0]

Many times when mountains are first surveyed they are given names like K2. Later on when somebody comes up with a name they change it.

 

I believe that the K refurs to Karakorum and then the 2 probably lists where the peak is in the area.

 

I am sure that K2 has a diferent name in Pakistani. But for all purposes I guess it was never assigned a name.

 

This happens in many remote places around the world.

 

Somtimes the elevation is just given as a name. Maybe they would just call it Peak 6583 or Peak 3245. This is very difficult to discern where the peak is though and so letters and numbers are assigned to give it a reginal location.

[brit-gob 9]

Interesting Toque.

[kintaro 0]

The tallest mountain on Earth is Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. The snowboarding/skiing isn't very good but what a spectacular sunrise!!

 

...or is Mauna Kea higher?? Anyway, without a doubt, the tallest mountain in the world is in Hawaii folks.

[pon farr 0]

Maybe you are a little confused

[kintaro 0]

Not confused but one is the highest and one is the "biggest" mountain in the world. Have a look at this site[/url if you want.

[kintaro 0]

sorry about that...I don't know why it didn't come out as a blue link you can click on...oh well that's the adress anyway for the tallest mountain in the world.

[scouser 4]

You're missing a ]

 

http://www.extremescience.com/MaunaLoa.htm

[mattlucas 0]

Well if we are doing this then:

 

Mount Logan in Yukon Territory Canada has the largest base circumference of any mountain on earth.

[window-cleaner 0]

How big is it?

 

Interesting facts about the Hawaiin one there dude.

[Plucky 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kintaro:
Not confused but one is the highest and one is the "biggest" mountain in the world. Have a look at this site[/url if you want.

I gotcha buddy

Mauna Kea is the biggest mountain on Earth. BUT, this only qualifies from base to summit. From the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is just a tad over 30,000 feet. Mauna Loa is the most volumous mountain on the planet. That's undisputed anywhere by any geo type person. Lotsa, lotsa lava there.

I used to work up in the saddle between these mountains all the time. I LOVED it up there. A high, dry desert in Hawaii. A geologists dream...Freaking beautiful.

Anyway...as said before, K2 was declared the world's biggest mt by traditional survey. Then came the advent of GPS. Everst rained supreme once again. There is some really interesting stuff about how mountains affect gravity on earth, confusing conventional survey instruments and actually changing gravity fields due to their mass. Good shit.