Standing on the beach looking up at Mauna Kea[1] and then standing next to the telescopes at the summit just an couple of hours later (including a height-adjusting stop midway), this got me curious: what's the highest mountain one can realistically climb "in one go" (ie as an expedition) starting at sea level?
> He would start with a swim in India's Bay of Bengal, walk over 700 miles across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, through the Himalayan foothills and climb every single one of Everest’s 29,029 feet. By starting at sea level, Tim added hundreds of miles and close to an extra 10,000 feet of elevation to the typical Everest expedition, which usually starts from Lukla at 9,383 feet.
While slightly taller, around 200 meters or 650ish feet higher than Mauna Kea, Google Maps says it takes 94 hours to walk from Morrow Beach (closest I could find) to the top of Mt Whitney, compared to just 23 hours from Waikōloa Beach to the top of Mauna Kea.
So in that regard I kinda feel Mauna Kea has an upper hand still. But good suggestion, it is technically higher.