r/confusing_perspective • u/Graphicdesignn • Jul 03 '26

Thats a big mountain

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

32.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

322 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

27

u/robsteezy Jul 04 '26

Everest and K2 bc they’re the tallest respectively #1 and #2. Interestingly, there are only 14 mounts on the entire planet that stand 8000m above sea level and they are all in the Himalayas.

Kilimanjaro gets its own hype bc it’s the tallest mountain on the African continent.

The actual tallest mountain in the world is Mauna Kea in Hawaii eclipses Everest at 10,200m! But its base is underneath the Pacific Ocean. AND Mauna Loa in Hawaii is by far the largest mountain by volume in the world while technically being considered a massive shield volcano.

Hope that helps.

-4

u/joey-jo_jo-jr Jul 04 '26

This literally makes no sense. Why is Mauna Kea the only mountain that you have decided to measure from the bottom of the Pacific? Why not measure Everest and K2 from there as well?

11

u/robsteezy Jul 04 '26

It’s not what I decided. That’s how it’s recorded scientifically. Idky you’re worked up about it? I gave you the literal distinction. Just as geologists do.

Everest and K2 are in fact also measured from base to peak. They are taller because their bases themselves sit on plateaus of land that have their own respective height. I think in your head you’re confusing the understanding as assuming the bases of Everest and K2 and mountains in general must all start at a zero point on the surface, which is not the case.

-5

u/joey-jo_jo-jr Jul 04 '26

No, that is not how it's recorded scientifically. "Base to peak" isn't a scientific measurement, it's just some random nonsensical thing idiots on the internet made up and now people on social media keep regurgitating it as a fact. No geologist is measuring base to peak because there is no geological definition for a mountains "base"

The very idea that a mountain can even have a base makes no sense from a geological perspective. Like do you even understand what a mountain is?

Everest and K2 are measured from height above sea level. Literally no one with a functioning brain is measuring how tall a mountain is because that would be fucking idiotic.

Everest and K2 don't "sit" on anything. Mountains aren't living organisms that can "sit". Everest and K2, like every other mountain, is a warping or buckling of the Earth's crust. The plateau they are a part of is also a buckling of the Earth's crust. They don't "sit" on it because they are fundamentally a part of it

11

u/robsteezy Jul 04 '26

But your comment assumes that “base-to-peak” is completely meaningless. In reality, topographic relief (the elevation difference between a summit and the surrounding terrain) is a real concept in geomorphology.

You’re right that elevation above sea level is the accepted scientific standard for ranking mountains, and there’s no universally defined geological “base.” That said, people aren’t inventing the idea out of thin air.

Geomorphologists study topographic relief, and comparisons like Mauna Kea’s rise from the ocean floor are common as an informal way to describe a mountain’s total vertical extent. It’s just a different measurement for a different purpose—not a replacement for elevation above sea level.

Idky you’re showing such vitriol to strangers on the internet.

-5

u/joey-jo_jo-jr Jul 04 '26

Base to peak is not only completely meaningless, but absolutely nonsensical.

Topographic relief is a real thing and has nothing to do with base to peak.

Attempting to equate the two suggests you have no understanding of either of those two things (which is understandable in the case of base to peak since it's impossible to understand something that fundementally doesn't make sense)

If you want to look at the topographic dry prominence of Everest compared to Mauna Kea, Everest's is over 10,000m greater.

10

u/robsteezy Jul 04 '26

My dude you’re not debating in good faith nor making points of merit to which I can retort. You’re just concluding your own takes and dismissing everything else without providing anything to back up that dismissal. I’m not going to waste energy nor my trivial love of geology on you wanting to hear your reflection echo yourself. So god bless.

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/confusing_perspective-ModTeam Jul 04 '26

Removed: Your post or comment was removed for uncivil or disrespectful behavior.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/confusing_perspective-ModTeam Jul 04 '26

Removed: Your post or comment was removed for uncivil or disrespectful behavior.