Distance from the Center of the Earth

It is well known that the highest mountain on earth is Mt. Everest at 29,017* feet. However it actually depends on how you measure the height. If you say that "highest" means the greatest distance above sea level then of course Mt. Everest reins supreme but there are actually two other ways to measure the height.

A second way to measure a mountain height is by the distance between the base and the top of a mountain, in this case Hawaii's Mauna Kea would be king of the world as it is 33,477 feet high (Only 13,796 ft is above sea level, the rest is below the Pacific Ocean) and Giant with a 4,050 feet rise from it's base in New Russia would be #1 in the Adirondacks.

The third way to measure the height is by measuring the distance from the center of the earth. This way because the earth bulges at the equator the point furthest from the center of the earth is the summit of Chimborazo volcano in the Andes of Ecuador. Its elevation from sea level is 20,703 feet but because it is near the equator its distance from the center of the earth is 20,946,295 feet which is 7,145 feet higher than Everest (20,939,150 feet) which sits at 27.980799° north latitude.

Measuring the mountains in the Adirondacks this way Mt. Marcy is a whopping 20,896,900 feet and is still the highest in the Adirondacks. Algonquin is still #2 at 20,896,633 feet.

However because of its higher latitude Marcy would lose its title as the highest in NY State to Slide Mt. in the Catskills which by this way of measuring is 1418 feet higher at 20,898,318 feet. In fact by this way of measuring Mt. Marcy just beats out Highpoint in NJ by 134 feet, which is just 1803 feet above sea level but with this way of measuring it is 20,896,766 feet (It beats Algonquin by 133 feet). But on the flip side, by this way of measuring Marcy is 7,618 feet higher than the highest point above sea level in North America Mount McKinley which would only be at 20,889,282 feet.

So because of the equatorial bulge, latitude is a significant factor on how far a mountain is from the center of the earth. For example Snowy Mt. in Indian Lake and Moose Mt. in Lake Placid are the same height above sea level 3,898 but because Snowy is at a lower latitude it is 796 feet further from the center of earth than Moose (20,895,958 vs 20,895,162 respectively).

If this was the standard way of measuring mountain heights the ADK 46 and 100 highest would look very different.

Rank	Name	Distance from Center of Earth	Sea Level Height**	Sea Level Rank**
1	Marcy	20896900	5344	1
2	Algonquin	20896633	5115	2
3	Haystack	20896525	4961	3
4	Skylight	20896496	4924	4
5	Dix	20896416	4823	9
6	Gray	20896383	4826	7
7	Iroquois	20896375	4849	6
8	Basin	20896371	4826	7
9	Gothics	20896271	4734	10
10	Colden	20896254	4715	11
11	Santononi	20896199	4606	13
12	Redfield	20896184	4606	13
13	Nippletop	20896167	4593	15
14	Whiteface	20896131	4885	5
15	Giant	20896122	4626	12
16	Wright	20896074	4587	16
17	Saddleback	20896067	4528	17
18	Blue Ridge (Indian Lake)	20896028	3881	50
19	Macomb	20896020	4390	22
20	Hough	20896017	4409	21
21	Panther  (High Peak)	20896015	4442	18
22	Snowy	20895958	3898	47
23	Armstrong	20895958	4429	19
24	Allen	20895954	4347	25
25	Tabletop	20895935	4413	20
26	Marshall	20895901	4363	24
27	Rocky Peak	20895888	4383	23
28	Panther - (Indian Lake)	20895878	3862	54
29	Lewey	20895831	3727	68
30	Seward	20895829	4331	26
31	Buell	20895820	3779	63
32	Pillsbury	20895808	3602	80
33	Wakley	20895792	3766	66
34	Little Moose	20895729	3632	75
35	Upper Wolfjaw	20895725	4203	29
36	South Dix	20895704	4068	37
37	Big Slide	20895702	4232	28
38	Sawteeth	20895689	4134	32
39	Lower Wolfjaw	20895685	4173	30
40	Colvin	20895662	4068	37
41	Phelps	20895662	4160	31
42	Gore	20895656	3563	84
43	Hamilton	20895651	3238	123
44	East Dix	20895620	4006	41
45	Donaldson	20895613	4108	34
46	Blue Mountain	20895610	3760	67
47	Street	20895608	4134	32
48	Seymour	20895591	4091	36
49	Big Range	20895570	3366	109
50	Dial	20895567	4003	42
51	Blake's	20895564	3970	44
52	Three ponds	20895561	3012	160
53	Puffer	20895559	3451	95
54	Emmons	20895557	4039	40
55	North River	20895528	3878	52
56	Swart	20895525	3094	149
57	Cascade	20895524	4098	35
58	Porter	20895518	4068	37
59	Cliff	20895511	3944	46
60	Mcnaughton	20895506	3983	43
61	Bullhead	20895506	3432	100
62	Hoffman	20895506	3704	71
63	Cellar (Indian Lake)	20895501	3369	108
64	Crane	20895491	3240	122
65	Cellar (Wakley)	20895491	3445	97
66	South Pond	20895486	3291	118
67	Boreas	20895466	3776	64
68	Esther	20895459	4239	27
69	Spruce Lake Mt	20895459	3169	137
70	Eleventh Mt	20895456	3291	118
71	Blue Ridge (3 Ponds)	20895446	2867	220
72	T-Lake Mt (T-Lake #2)	20895441	3071	150
73	T-Lake #1	20895436	3091	152
74	Dug Mt	20895432	3228	126
75	Green	20895430	3960	45
76	Brown Pond	20895427	3419	102
77	Pigeon	20895413	2780	251
78	Blue Ridge(Blue Mt. Lake)	20895410	3465	92
79	Dun Brook	20895408	3589	81
80	Kitty #3	20895405	3159	140
81	Kitty Cobble (Kitty #1)	20895398	3251	121
82	Lost Pond Peak	20895384	3891	49
83	T-Lake #3	20895393	2995	164
84	Blue Ridge(Raquette Lake)	20895382	3428	101
85	Couchsachraga	20895370	3793	62
86	Wilmart	20895366	2976	173
87	Avalanche	20895359	3832	57
88	Twin Lakes (T-Lake #4)	20895358	2976	173
89	T-Lakes #5	20895343	2976	173
90	T.R.	20895339	3822	59
91	Nye	20895335	3871	53
92	Kitty #2	20895333	3163	139
93	Moose (3 Ponds)	20895330	2805	238
94	Cheney Cobble	20895323	3684	73
95	Grass Mt	20895322	2989	168
96	Fishing Brook #1	20895321	3547	86
97	Speculator	20895320	2966	178
98	Raker (Sawtooth #1)	20895301	3839	56
99	Macomber	20895297	3005	163
100	T-Lakes #6	20895295	2972	176

And here are some other Adirondack Mountains thrown in for fun

Name	Distance from the center of the Earth		Sea Level height
Fishing Brook #2	20895294		3468
Squaw	20895283		3255
Sunrise	20895282		3619
Henderson	20895281		3707
County Line Mt	20895278		3110
North Branch	20895278		2717
West Canada	20895268		2991
Wallace	20895268		2720
Payne	20895265		3232
Blue Ridge (Hoffman)	20895253		3468
Wallface	20895252		3727
Tomany	20895248		2677
Unnamed (E of Hornet Cobbles)	20895233		3451
Unnamed (S of Spoon Lake)	20895238		2923
Stacy Mt	20895237		2854
Cutter (Sawtooth #2)	20895230		3773
Vanderwhacker	20895227		3409
Tenant	20895222		2756
Kitty #7	20895223		3012
Sherman	20895219		2638
West Canada #2	20895218		2953
Kilburn	20895204		3881
Baldhead(Stony Creek)	20895200		2870
Pete Gay	20895199		3127
Burgess	20895189		3192
Hogback	20895187		2480
Sawtooth #3	20895177		3694
Sentinel	20895177		3858
Calamity	20895174		3607
Fishing Brook #3	20895171		3396
Fishing Brook #4	20895165		3389
Moose (Lake Placid)	20895162		3898
Wolf Pond	20895149		3442
State Brook	20895143		2549
McKenzie	20895114		3832
Little Santononi	20895108		3504
Adams	20895107		3520
Noonmark	20895092		3556
Hurricane	20895084		3678
Ohmer	20895070		2566
Fishingbrook #5	20895012		3238
Saddleback (Jay)	20894947		3615
Slide (Sentinels)	20894931		3576
Sawteeth #4	20894922		3445
Unnamed (E of Seymour)	20894918		3415
Stewart	20894909		3615
Pitchoff	20894900		3497
Jay	20894889		3576
Sawteeth #5	20894863		3415
Bailey Hill	20894854		3051
Black (Lake George)	20894815		2640
Ampersand	20894719		3313
Lyon	20894653		3820
Averill	20894648		3803
Knob Lock	20894641		3192
Slip (Jay Range)	20894633		3313
Morgan	20894639		3458
Wilmington	20894622		3458

The formula I used to calculate these heights

Distance from center of earth =

((1/sqrt(cos²(Lat)/a² + sin²(Lat)/b²)) * 5280) + M

Where as…
a = Earth's Equator radius in miles = 3,963.189
b = Earth's Polar radius in miles = 3,949.901
Lat= Latitude of peak in Degrees.degrees format***
5280= Convert miles into feet
M=Mountain Height in feet above sea level

* Current measurement as of 10/05 drops the height of Everest to 29,017 feet down from 29,035 feet
** Heights and rankings based on 1978 metric maps
*** Note: In order to work in MS Excel, degrees must be converted to radians Radians= Degrees * ¶/180

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