In 1913 Hudson Stuck gained international fame as the organizer and co-leader of the first successful complete ascent of Denali (Mount McKinley), the highest peak in North America.
Hudson Stuck, dedicated the latter part of his life to helping various Native communities preserve language and culture in the regions of Yukon and the Arctic.
Stuck described this climb, his missionary activities, the great rivers, and the inhabitants of interior Alaska in numerous articles and five books. The lifelong bachelor died of bronchial pneumonia at Fort Yukon, Alaska, on October 10, 1920.
At a youthful age our co-founder Dan Hopkins was led on a trail through the interior of Alaska and the Yukon which changed his life and gave him direction. A few years later while on a visit home to England, he discovered that parts of the trail he’d been on had been broken generations earlier by a man he was related too. Born just miles apart, Dan’s great, great uncle Hudson Stuck, dedicated the latter part of his life to helping various Native communities preserve language and culture in the regions of Yukon and the Arctic.
Since Dan became aware of his great, great uncle and his numerous accomplishments he has felt a strong desire to continue to follow in his footsteps and extend some of the passion that Stuck once wielded on the lands and people of the north.
The ascent of Denali will be the first of many events that "Climb for Life" will organize for important causes that make a difference for children and youth. We hope that Uncle Hudson will be looking down upon us and smiling as we undertake this journey together turning our aspirations north.