Mount McKinley

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(Redirected from Denali)

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"Denali" redirects here. For other meanings, see Denali (disambiguation).

Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska is the highest mountain peak in North America, at a height of approximately 20,320 feet (6,194 metres). It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park.

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Location

Mount McKinley is located in the central portion of the Alaska Range, which spans much of south central Alaska. It is approximately 130 miles (210 km) north-northwest of Anchorage and 155 miles (250 km) southwest of Fairbanks. The summit is approximately 35 miles (56 km) from the nearest major road, the George Parks Highway.

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Notable Features

Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest. Even though the summit of Everest is 9000 feet higher, measured from sea level, its base sits on the Tibetan Plateau at about 17,000 feet, giving it a real vertical rise of little more than 12,000 feet. The base of Denali is roughly a 2,000 foot plateau, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet.

The mountain is also characterized by extremely cold weather due to its high latitude, and its proximity to the jet stream.[1]

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Layout of the Mountain

Mount McKinley has two significant summits: the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 feet (5,935 m) and a prominence of approximately 1,320 feet (402 m). The North Summit is sometimes counted as a separate peak (see e.g. the List of United States fourteeners) and sometimes not; it is rarely climbed, except by those doing routes on the north side of the massif.

Five large glaciers flow off the slopes of the mountain. The Peters Glacier lies on the northwest side of the massif, while the Muldrow Glacier falls from its northeast slopes. Just to the east of the Muldrow, and abutting the eastern side of the massif, is the Traleika Glacier. The Ruth Glacier lies to the southeast of the mountain, and the Kahiltna Glacier leads up to the southwest side of the mountain.

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Name Controversy

Template:POV-check-section Mount McKinley is also commonly known as Denali, which means "the great one" in the Dena'ina language, and which is also the official name currently recognized by the State of Alaska. In 1897 the Mountain was officially named Mount McKinley, after the popular U.S. president William McKinley. As the decades progressed Indian-rights activists began increasingly to view this renaming as colonial and disrespectful. Denali is also the name preferred by the mountaineering community. There have been several campaigns to officially switch the federally recognized name of the mountain back to "Denali". However, the name "McKinley" is well-known and has support as well. In particular, at the first session of each Congress, Ralph Regula, the congressman from President McKinley's district, introduces legislation "to provide for the retention of the name of Mount McKinley," which effectively blocks any effort at a name change.


Image:MountMcKinley BA.jpg

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Climbing History

The first attempt to climb Mount McKinley was by Judge James Wickersham in 1903, via the Peters Glacier and the North Face, now known as the Wickersham Wall. This route has tremendous avalanche danger and was not climbed until 1963.

Famed explorer Dr. Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent of the mountain in 1906. His claim was regarded with some suspicion from the start, but was also widely believed. It was later proved fraudulent, with some crucial evidence provided by Bradford Washburn.

In 1910, four locals (Tom Lloyd, Peter Anderson, Billy Taylor, and Charles McGonagall), known as the Sourdough expedition, attempted McKinley, despite a complete lack of climbing experience. They spent approximately three months on the mountain. However, their purported summit day was impressive: carrying a bag of doughnuts, a thermos of cocoa each and a 14 foot spruce pole, two of them reached the North Summit, lower of the two, and erected the pole near the top. According to them, they took a total of 18 hours - a record that has yet to be breached (as of 2006). No one believed their success (partly due to false claims that they had climbed both summits) until the true first ascent, in 1913.

In 1912, the Parker-Browne expedition nearly reached the summit, but had to turn back due to harsh weather. In fact, that probably saved their lives, as a powerful earthquake shattered the glacier they ascended hours after they safely left it.

The first ascent of the main summit of McKinley came on June 7, 1913 by a party led by Hudson Stuck. The first man to reach the summit was Walter Harper, a native Alaskan. Harry Karstens and Robert Tatum also made the summit. They ascended the Muldrow Glacier route pioneered by the earlier expeditions, which is still a popular route today. Stuck confirmed, via binoculars, the presence of a large pole near the North Summit; this report confirmed the Sourdough ascent, and today it is widely believed that the Sourdoughs did succeed on the North Summit. However the pole was never seen before or since, so there is still some doubt. Stuck also discovered that the Parker-Browne party were only about 200 feet of elevation short of the true summit when they had to turn back.

See the timeline below for more important events in Mount McKinley's climbing history.

The mountain is regularly climbed today, with just over 50% of the expeditions successful, although it is still a dangerous undertaking, and there have been many fatalities. The vast majority of climbers use the West Buttress Route, pioneered in 1951 by Bradford Washburn, after an extensive aerial photographic analysis of the mountain. Climbs typically take two to three weeks.

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Timeline

  • 1896-1902 Surveys by Robert Muldrow, George Eldridge, Alfred Brooks.
  • 1903. First attempt, by Judge James Wickersham.
  • 1906. Frederick Cook falsely claims the first ascent of McKinley.
  • 1910. The Sourdoughs ascend the North Summit.
  • 1912. The Parker-Browne attempt almost reaches the South Summit.
  • 1913. First ascent by Hudson Stuck, Walter Harper, Harry Karstens, Robert Tatum.
  • 1932. Second ascent, by Alfred Lindley, Harry Liek, Grant Pearson, Erling Strom. (Both peaks were climbed.)
  • 1947. Barbara Washburn becomes the first woman to reach the summit, with the fourth-ascent party, led by Bradford Washburn.
  • 1951. First ascent of the West Buttress Route, led by Bradford Washburn.
  • 1954. First ascent of the very long South Buttress Route.
  • 1959. First ascent of the West Rib, now a popular, mildly technical route to the summit.
  • 1961. First ascent of the Cassin Ridge, the best-known technical route on the mountain. This was a major landmark in Alaskan climbing.
  • 1963. Two teams make first ascents of two different routes on the Wickersham Wall.
  • 1967. First winter ascent, via the West Buttress, by Dave Johnston, Art Davidson, and Ray Genet.
  • 1970. Naomi Uemura of Japan makes the first solo ascent.
  • 1984. Uemura returns to make the first winter solo ascent, but dies after summitting.
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Subpeaks and nearby mountains

Besides the North Summit mentioned above, other less significant features on the massif which are sometimes included as separate peaks are:

  • South Buttress (15,885 feet), prominence = 285-385 feet
  • East Buttress (14,370 feet), prominence = 330-430 feet
  • Browne Tower (14,530 feet), prominence = 0-150 feet

None of these peaks are usually regarded as worthwhile objectives in their own right; however they often appear on lists of the highest peaks of the United States, e.g. the List of United States fourteeners.

Nearby important peaks include:

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References

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External links

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