Low's outpeaks Kinabalu

Low's outpeaks Kinabalu

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Low's Peak on Mount Kinabalu, which for 87
years was considered the highest point in Southeast Asia, no
longer holds that honor.

With the help of U.S. satellites, surveyors found that nearby
Victoria Peak was taller. Victoria, at 4,097 meters is 17 meters
higher than Low's, The Star reported yesterday, quoting Sabah
state's Chief Minister Yong Teck Lee.

Ramli Osman, vice-chairman of the Sabah Institute of
Surveyors, that helped organize the measuring team, confirmed the
report.

A government-sponsored mission has been on Mount Kinabalu,
near the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, since
Monday. Using nine American satellites and the Global Positioning
System they pinpointed the exact height of Low's Peak, said Grace
Choong of the Sabah Land and Survey Department.

It was found to be only 4,093 meters, 7.6 meters lower than
the previously estimated 4,101 meters announced on June 25, 1910,
by British surveyors. Yong said the surveyors found a plateau on
Victoria Peak that was 4,097 meters, four meters higher.

He said there was a horn on Victoria Peak about 10 meters high
and he had asked the team to again use the satellites and the
Global Positioning System to determine the exact height,
including the horn, of the Victoria Peak, within a year.

Victoria Peak had not been measured previously because in 1910
when the British took measurements from a ship, Victoria was
hidden, according to survey officials.