STILL GROWING Ben Nevis adds a metre

Posted on 03/21/2016

Britain's highest mountain has got a little taller - at least on paper. Cartographers say Ben Nevis, in the Scottish Highlands, is 1,345 metres high, rather than the previously recorded 1,344 metres.

Mapmakers Ordnance Survey say the mountain has not physically grown. Technology has improved since the last survey in 1949, allowing for a more accurate reading using data from satellites and a GPS receiver at the summit.The actual difference between the two measurements is only a few centimetres - but since the new height is 1,344.527 metres (4,411.178 feet), it is officially rounded up.In 1949, it took surveyors three weeks to calculate the mountain's height. Ordnance Survey expert Mark Greaves said Friday “what is amazing is how close the surveyors in 1949 were.”