Not the Himalayas, but close
Mystery of the Himalayas solved
The mystery of why the Himalaya mountains and the Tibetan plateau are the highest in the world has at last been answered, with the discovery of a gigantic chunk of rock slowly sinking towards the centre of the Earth.
When the massive slab – up to eight times the area of the UK and as thick as a dozen Everests on top of each other – dropped off, the lighter crust above it rebounded upwards like a cork released under water, geophysicists say. This “sudden uplift” would have raised the Himalayas by as much as 2km (1.24 miles) to their present height.
If not for the surge, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay might have found themselves reaching the “roof of the world” by conquering Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina while Everest languished at a mere 6,848m above sea level, 2,000m below its actual peak.
[…]
“While attached, this immense piece of mantle under Tibet acted as an anchor, holding the land above in place,” said Professor Chen, whose results are to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. “Then, about 15 million years ago, the chain broke and the land rose.”
She must be Brittish
So what’s with the Grand Tetons?
Poor woman, can you imagine the type of back problems she must have?
She has huuuuuge . . . tracts of land!
Re:
“If not for the surge, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay might have found themselves reaching the “roof of the world” by conquering Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina while Everest languished at a mere 6,848m above sea level, 2,000m below its actual peak”
From the Wiki entry for Mt. Chimborazo (volcano):
Although the summit of Mount Everest reaches a higher elevation above sea level, the summit of Chimborazo is widely reported to be the farthest point from earth center (Senne 2000), although this could be challenged by Huascarán[3]. Chimborazo is just one degree south of the equator and the earth’s diameter at the equator is greater than at Everest’s latitude (nearly 28° north), with sea level also being elevated. So, despite being 2,581 m (8,568 ft) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi) from the Earth’s center, 2.1 km farther than the summit of Everest.[4]