Hempy, the elevation of Erebus is 12,500'.
Which brings me on to another point not often made. Saying the aircraft hit "Mt. Erebus" presents a misleading picture to people like Mahon and the general public who don't really grasp the significance of altitude figures. 2000', 1500', 16000'......... they're just numbers to these people. And saying the aircraft hit "a mountain" conjures up images of a Mt Fuji-like edifice poking up high into the sky, an aircraft flying at altitude has its computerised track changed and collides with "the mountain".
However at 1500', there is one hell of a lot of Ross Island they could have hit without achieving "mountain" status. 1500' is low. Very very low. Lets keep everything the same about this accident - except imagine we could truncate off MT. Erebus at 1600'. The aircraft still hits the exact same spot at 1500', but there is now no "Mt. Erebus" above. We would then be describing the aircraft as "crashing into the rising ground of Ross Island" - which is of course exactly what happened. Whereas to the uninitiated, using the "hitting a mountain" language conceptually makes the accident easier to excuse.