Chimborazo, not Everest, is the point farthest from Earth's center

Ask which mountain reaches highest and most people say Everest, whose summit stands 8,848 metres above sea level. But “highest” depends on where you measure from. If you measure from the center of the Earth, the winner is Chimborazo, an inactive volcano in Ecuador whose peak is only about 6,268 metres above sea level — more than two kilometres shorter than Everest by the usual reckoning.

The twist is geometry. Earth is not a perfect sphere: its constant rotation flings the planet outward at the middle, creating an equatorial bulge that makes the radius at the equator roughly 22 km longer than at the poles.

Chimborazo sits just one degree south of the Equator, exactly where that bulge is greatest.

That location does the heavy lifting. According to NOAA, Chimborazo’s summit is over 2,072 metres farther from Earth’s center than Everest’s — placing it about 6,384 km out, the closest point on the planet’s surface to outer space.