The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and Clarifications

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Friday, May 18, 2007
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Corrections and Clarifications

A report "Everest record broken by history-making team" (May 17, 2007) was about 47-year-old Apa Sherpa making it to the summit of Mt. Everest for the 17th time, and breaking his own world record, while a pointer on the "Newscape" page titled "Super Sherpa" was on the same event. It was a repeat and an error.

In the report, the height of Mt. Everest was given as 8,850 metres, which a reader disputed and said was 8848 m. Praveen Swami clarifies that there are several conflicting figures of Everest's altitude, which have come about because of a variety of technical factors, including the fact that snow and ice thickness vary with the season, making a definitive measurement impossible. In the report, he used a 1999 estimate, which is now standard in most of the recent mountaineering literature. In May 1999, an American Everest Expedition, directed by Bradford Washburn, anchored a Global Positioning System unit into the highest bedrock on the mountain. A rock-head elevation of 8,850 metres (29,035 feet), and an ice elevation of an additional 1 metre, was obtained. Although the figure has not been officially approved by Nepal, it is now widely cited because of the technology used. In October 2005, China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping announced that the height of the rock on Everest, not allowing for snow and ice, is 8,844.43 metres +/- 0.21 metres. (29,017.16 +/- 0.69 ft). Interestingly, the altitude of Everest is constantly changing. Tectonic movements — the forces which caused the great Kashmir earthquake of 2005 — are adding to the height of the summit and also moving it north-east. Two separate accounts suggest the summit moves upwards 4 millimetres each year, and 3-6 millimetres north-east. As with studies of altitude, though, other accounts dispute these figures.

It is the Media Development Foundation and not the Media Development Fund as was published in the reports "`Focus on battles of the poor'" — on the 2007 convocation of the Asian College of Journalism — (May 4, 2007) and "Monopolisation of media decried" (Kerala, May 17, 2007, page 3).

In The Hindu Crossword 8914, clue 6 Across was "Russian lake that develops an ego (5)" (May 16, 2007). The solution was given as "Omega" (May 17, 2007), which a reader said cannot be got from jumbling "an ego". It was an error. The solution should have been "Onega", derived by rearranging "an ego". (Lake Onega is the second largest lake in Europe, situated in the northwest part of the European portion of Russia, between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea. It covers an area of 3,753 square miles (9,720 square km). It is 154 miles (248 km) long; its greatest width is 50 miles (80 km); and its greatest depth is about 380 feet (116 m).)

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

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