Did You Know, Everest isn’t the tallest mountain on Earth.

When it comes to mountains, the accolade of “world’s tallest” is a matter of opinion. If you’re going strictly by height above sea level, then yes, Everest remains the reigning champion. However, if you’re going by tallest from base to summit (that is, including parts of the mountain below sea level), the clear winner is Mauna Kea, which, at 33,500 feet, is some 4,000 feet taller than Everest. However, the most compelling competitor in the “world’s tallest mountain” challenge is little-known Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. Because (as its name suggests) Ecuador straddles the equator, it’s also farther from the center of the Earth, since the planet’s midsection actually bulges outward due to its constant rotation. This technically makes Chimborazo the farthest away a human can get from Earth while still standing on land.