Mount Everest vs K2
Mount Everest (8,848.86 m) is 1.03× the size of K2 (8,611 m).
K2 is 97% of the height of Mount Everest. The gap between them is 238 m (780 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Everest | 8,848.86 m | 29,032 ft | elevation |
| K2 | 8,611 m | 28,251 ft | elevation |
What the scale shows
Mount Everest (8,848.86 m) is 1.03× the size of K2 (8,611 m). The gap between them is 238 m (780 ft). Both are mountains, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 97% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for Mount Everest is its elevation (summit elevation above sea level (2020 survey)). The figure for K2 is its elevation (summit elevation above sea level).
Crossing them
At a jet's 900 km/h, Mount Everest's 8,848.86 m would take 35 seconds and K2's 8,611 m would take 34 seconds.
In people: Mount Everest is 5,205 adults of 1.7 m tall, K2 is 5,065.3. By size Mount Everest is 1st of the 10 mountains on this site and K2 is 2nd, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. Mount Everest is given as an elevation, summit elevation above sea level (2020 survey). K2 is given as an elevation, summit elevation above sea level. Both are elevation figures, so putting them on one baseline is a like-for-like comparison, although the exact individual or convention still matters.
Elevation is measured from mean sea level to the summit, not from the base of the mountain. Surveys are revised, so a figure here can differ from an older atlas by a few metres.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, Mount Everest is number 17 from the top and K2 is number 18. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: both sit in the upper third of the list.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 1.03× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, Mount Everest would have about 1.06× the surface or footprint of K2, and about 1.09× the volume. These two are not the same shape, so treat the figures as an upper bound for an imaginary scaled copy, not as a measurement of either one.
The drawing above shows length only. K2 is drawn 97% as tall as Mount Everest, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 94.7%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
A sprinter holding about 10 m/s covers Mount Everest in 15 minutes and K2 in 14 minutes. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 26 seconds for the larger and 25 seconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 35 seconds and 34 seconds.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 1.03× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
Mount Everest measures 8,848.86 m, which is 29,032 ft or 5.5 miles. K2 measures 8,611 m, which is 28,251 ft or 5.35 miles.
The difference between them is 238 m (780 ft). In kilometres the smaller one is 8.61 against 8.85, so the 1.03× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, Mount Everest or K2?
Mount Everest is bigger. At 8,848.86 m it is 1.03× the size of K2, which is 8,611 m.
How many times does K2 fit along Mount Everest?
Less than twice: K2 is 97% of the size of Mount Everest, so one fits with 238 m to spare.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
Yes in kind: both are elevation figures. Mount Everest is summit elevation above sea level (2020 survey); K2 is summit elevation above sea level.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, Mount Everest is about 5,205 people tall and K2 is about 5,065.3. The gap of 238 m is 140 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.