Mt Everest is getting shorter!

If you are planning to climb Mount Everest, better hurry because a Chinese survey has revealed that it is shrinking.

The world's highest peak, Mt Everest, is gradually losing its height -- nearly 0.1metre annually -- due to global warming and shrinking of glaciers in the Himalayan region, the survey says.

The mountaintop declined by 1.3metres in the 33 years ending 1999, down from 8,849.75 to 8,848.45metres, according to a scientific survey released at a recent international symposium on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau held in Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

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The 1966-1975 drop, was about 0.1metre per year. The falling speed reduced to 0.01metre between 1975 and 1992 and again accelerated to nearly 0.1metre from 1992 to 1998, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday night, quoting the findings of the survey.

Though the exact thickness of snow atop Mt Everest (Qomolangma in Chinese) remains a mystery, an Italian mountaineering team estimated it at not less than 2.5metres. Global warming accelerates the process of conversion from soft snow to ice.

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Consolidation of glaciers has also led to the decline of Mt Everest, Yao Tandong, director of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute, a branch of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying.