Denali
Denali, called Mount McKinley by the U.S. government since 2025, is the highest mountain peak in both the United States and North America, and one of Seven Summits. It is exactly 20,310 feet (6,190 m) high.[4] It is in the highest part of the Alaska Range.
 From the north, with Wonder Lake in the foreground | |
| Elevation | 20,310 ft (6,190 m) top of snow[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Prominence | 20,194 ft (6,155 m)[3] |
| Parent peak | Aconcagua[3] |
| Listing | |
| Location | |
| Location | Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, U.S. |
| Range | Alaska Range |
| Topo map | USGS Mt. McKinley A-3 |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | June 7, 1913 by |
| Easiest route | West Buttress Route (glacier/snow climb) |
Name
Denali means "the high one" in the Athabaskan language. In 1896, a gold prospector named it Mount McKinley after William McKinley, who would win the presidency that year. The U.S. government adopted "Mount McKinley" in 1917. In 1975, the Alaskan government began calling the mountain "Denali". The U.S. government followed suit in 2015. In 2025, President Donald Trump ordered government agencies to once again call the mountain "Mount McKinley".
Location
Denali is in the middle of the Alaska Range. It is about 130 miles (210 km) north-northwest of Anchorage and 155 miles (249 km) southwest of Fairbanks. The summit is about 35 miles (56 km) from the nearest major road, the George Parks Highway.
Denali Media
Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens, co-leaders of the first successful expedition of four to reach the summit of Denali in 1913, the other members of the expedition being Robert G. Tatum and Walter Harper
High camp (17,200 ft or 5,200 m) of the West Buttress Route pioneered by Bradford Washburn, photographed in 2001
Denali's West Buttress (lower left to upper right), August 2010
A three-dimensional representation of the mountain created with topographic data
South view from 27,000 feet (8,200 m)
The east side viewed from Denali National Park and Preserve, which surrounds the mountain
Denali, here shrouded in clouds, is large enough to create its own localized weather.
This is a photo of Mt. Denali from the base of the mountain itself in the national park, taken in January 2019. The photo shows the barren, icy landscape of the mountain.
References
- ↑ USGS (September 2, 2015). "New Elevation for Nation's Highest Peak". Press release. https://www.usgs.gov/news/new-elevation-nation%E2%80%99s-highest-peak. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
- ↑ Wagner, Mary Jo (November 2015). "Surveying at 20,000 feet". The American Surveyor. 12 (10): 10–19. ISSN 1548-2669.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 PeakVisor. "Denali". Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ↑ Elevations and Distances in the United States Archived 2008-10-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on July 25, 2007
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