Mount McKinley

Jai Ganesh · Yesterday 22:27:55

Denali

Gist

Denali, officially renamed from Mount McKinley in 2015, is the highest mountain peak in North America, reaching a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. Located in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, this massive granite block is known for extreme, unpredictable weather, and it is considered one of the most challenging, deadly, and scenic climbs in the world.

Mount McKinley is the crown jewel of Denali National Park and Preserve, the highest mountain in North America (at 20,310' above sea level), and a sought-after prize for sightseeing national park visitors and mountain climbing alpinists alike.

Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, towering 20,310 feet above sea level in Alaska's Denali National Park & Preserve. Located in the Alaska Range, it is a premier destination for mountaineering and wilderness exploration, often considered one of the coldest and most challenging mountains in the world.

Summary

Denali, federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft (5,500 m). With a topographic prominence of 20,156 feet (6,144 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Koyukon people who inhabit the area around the mountain have referred to the peak as "Denali" for centuries. In 1896, a gold prospector named it "Mount McKinley" in support of then–presidential candidate William McKinley, who later became the 25th president; McKinley's name was the official name recognized by the federal government of the United States from 1917 until 2015. In August 2015, 40 years after Alaska had officially named the mountain Denali, the United States Department of the Interior under the Obama administration changed the official federal name of the mountain also to Denali. In January 2025, the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration reverted the mountain's official federal name to Mount McKinley.

In 1903, James Wickersham recorded the first attempt at climbing Denali, which was unsuccessful. In 1906, Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent, but this ascent is unverified and its legitimacy questioned. The first verifiable ascent to Denali's summit was achieved on June 7, 1913, by climbers Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum, who went by the South Summit. In 1951, Bradford Washburn pioneered the West Buttress route, considered to be the safest and easiest route, and therefore the most popular currently in use.

On September 2, 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey measured the mountain at 20,310 feet (6,190 m) high, 10 ft lower than the 20,320 feet (6,194 m) measured in 1952 using photogrammetry.

Details

Mount McKinley, highest peak in North America. It is located near the center of the Alaska Range, with two summits rising above the Denali Fault, in south-central Alaska, U.S.

Elevation and geology

Mount McKinley’s official elevation figure of 20,310 feet (6,190 meters), established by the United States Geological Survey in September 2015, was the product of a thorough remeasurement of the mountain’s height conducted earlier that year using state-of-the-art equipment. The new value superseded the long-standing figure of 20,320 feet (6,194 meters) that had been the official elevation since the early 1950s. Earlier attempts to measure the mountain’s height had yielded different values. One such survey, conducted in 2010 using advanced radar technology, was made public in September 2013 and gave its elevation as 20,237 feet (6,168 meters). However, that measurement was subsequently determined to be inaccurate.

Mount McKinley lies about 130 miles (210 km) north-northwest of Anchorage and some 170 miles (275 km) southwest of Fairbanks in Denali National Park and Preserve. The mountain is essentially a giant block of granite that was lifted above Earth’s crust during a period of tectonic activity that began about 60 million years ago. It rises abruptly some 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) from Denali Fault at its base to the higher, more southerly of its two summits. The upper half of the mountain is covered with permanent snowfields that feed many glaciers, some surpassing 30 miles (48 km) in length.

Exploration and climbing attempts

In 1794 the English navigator George Vancouver sighted the mountain from Cook Inlet (an arm of the Gulf of Alaska). The first attempt to climb it was made in 1903 by an American judge, James Wickersham, but it was unsuccessful. A much-publicized but fraudulent claim by the physician and explorer Frederick A. Cook that he had reached the top inspired the conquest of the North Peak in 1910, by two prospectors of what was dubbed the “Sourdough Expedition.” On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens led a party to the South Peak, the true summit. A climbing party was first airlifted onto the mountain’s flanks in 1932; beginning in the 1950s, that became the standard way to attempt a summit climb, as it reduced the trip by several weeks. Most climbers are now flown to a base camp on southern-facing Kahiltna Glacier at an elevation of 7,200 feet (2,195 meters), where the greatest number follow the West Buttress route. On average, several hundred climbers attempt to reach the summit each year.

Denali or McKinley?

The mountain was known to the Athabaskan Indians as Denali (“The High One” or “The Great One”) and to the Russians as Bolshaya Gora (“Great Mountain”). It was called Densmore’s Mountain in 1889 by Frank Densmore, a prospector. The name Mount McKinley was applied in 1896 by William A. Dickinson, another prospector, in honor of William McKinley (who was elected president of the United States later that year) and became the official name. Efforts began in the mid-1970s to restore the mountain’s original Native American name but faced opposition, mainly from lawmakers from Ohio, McKinley’s home state. However, the mountain’s original name was recognized by the state of Alaska, and it was adopted as the name of the national park and preserve when it was created in 1980.

Use of the name Denali for the mountain became increasingly common, and in 2015 it was officially renamed Denali. On January 20, 2025, as one of his first acts upon his return to the White House, Pres. Donald Trump issued an executive order that called for Denali to be reverted back to Mount McKinley. The following month, the Board on Geographic Names enacted that change. Denali National Park and Preserve retained its current name, however.

Additional Information

Denali (Mount McKinley) is the highest mountain in North America, but controversy surrounds both its height and name.

Denali, also called Mount McKinley, is the tallest mountain in North America, located in south-central Alaska. With a peak that reaches 6,190 meters (20,310 feet) above sea level, Denali is the third-highest of the Seven Summits (the tallest peaks on all seven continents).

Denali is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) north-northwest of Anchorage. Sixty million years ago, tectonic uplift pushed Earth's crust upward, forming Denali and the other Alaska Range mountains. Denali is the centerpiece of the Denali National Park and Preserve, which spans 2.4 million hectares (6 million acres) of land.

“Denali” comes from Koyukon, a traditional Native Alaskan language, and means “the tall one.” This name had been used for many generations and was used by early non-Native researchers and naturalists. But in 1896, William A. Dickinson, a prospector, began calling Denali “Mount McKinley,” in honor of William McKinley, a presidential candidate at the time. After McKinley became president and was later assassinated, Congress formally recognized the name in 1917, despite McKinley’s tenuous ties to Alaska (he had never visited). But Native Alaskans, as well as locals of varied backgrounds, continued to call the mountain Denali. In 1975, a movement began to rename the mountain Denali, but it was blocked by politicians in Ohio, McKinley’s home state. Finally, President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell took action in 2015 to change the name back to Denali, which is now its official name.

In 2015, Denali was measured using state-of-the-art equipment by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), who determined the definitive and now widely accepted height of the mountain: 6,190 meters (20,310 feet). However, a report released in 2013 gave its elevation as 6,168 meters (20,237 feet). Both measurements were different from the long-standing figure of 6,194 meters (20,320 feet) that had been circulated since the 1950s, when the mountain was first measured.

Denali is considered an extremely difficult climb due to the severe weather and steep vertical climbs. In 1906, physician and explorer Frederick Cook was famously reported to have reached the summit, a claim that was later found false. Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, and their team of climbers were the first on record to actually reach the summit in 1913. Since then, several hundred people attempt to climb Denali each year.

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 Yesterday 22:27:55

Mount McKinley

Board footer