Denali
Mount McKinley 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.
| File:Wonder Lake and Denali.jpg 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 | Mt. McKinley 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
In 1896, a gold prospector named it Mount McKinley after William McKinley, who would win the presidency that year.[5] The U.S. government adopted "Mount McKinley" in 1917. [6] In 1975, the Alaskan government began calling the mountain "Denali." The U.S. government followed suit in 2015.[7] In 2025, President Donald Trump ordered government agencies to once again call the mountain "Mount McKinley." [8]
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
- Stuck.Karstens.jpg
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
- Denali high camp.jpg
High camp (17,200 ft or 5,200 m) of the West Buttress Route pioneered by Bradford Washburn, photographed in 2001
- McKinelyWestbuttress.jpg
Denali's West Buttress (lower left to upper right), August 2010
- Mount Mckinley 3D.gif
A three-dimensional representation of the mountain created with topographic data
South view from 27,000 feet (8,200 m)
- Mount McKinley and Denali National Park Road 2048px.jpg
The east side viewed from Denali National Park and Preserve, which surrounds the mountain
- Mount McKinley Shrouded 2048px.jpg
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
- ↑ Friedman, Jordan (2025-01-17). "Why the Name of Alaska's Peak Changed From Mt. McKinley to Denali". HISTORY. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- ↑ "Mountain Name Origins - Denali National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- ↑ Veregin, Howard (2025-01-22). "Renaming Denali and the Gulf of Mexico". State Cartographer's Office. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- ↑ House, The White (2025-01-21). "Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness". The White House. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
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