Everest is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level, but a volcano in Ecuador called Chimborazo beats it by more than 2,000 metres when measured from the planet’s centre — because the Earth bulges at the equator and Chimborazo sits almost exactly on that bulge

But change the starting point from sea level to the centre of the planet and an entirely different mountain wins. Chimborazo, a glacier-capped volcano in Ecuador, rises only 6,263.47 metres above sea level. The two measurements answer different questionsElevation asks how far a point stands above a reference close to mean sea level. Sea level is not a smooth shell eitherEven “above sea level” is more sophisticated than it sounds. There are at least three sensible mountain recordsEverest is highest above mean sea level.