Notable features

Deep in the heart of Denali National Park and Preserve in south central Alaska lies the pinnacle of North America, arguably the coldest mountain in the world. Rising nearly four vertical miles from the vast surrounding tundra, Denali, native Athabascan for 'The High One', is the prize of hundreds of mountaineers every year. Some of the earth's most fearsome weather frequently spins across its frozen face, always unpredictable, and severely unforgiving for the ill prepared. This is the allure for adventure seekers, those who place their dreams and their lives at the mercy of the mountain.

The first complete and well documented ascent of the true summit of Mount McKinley was made in June 1913 by the Rev. Hudson Stuck, Episcopal archdeacon of the Yukon, accompanied by Walter Harper, Harry Karstens and Robert Tatum. Harper, a Native Athabascan, was the first person to set foot on the higher south peak. The story of their achievement was colorfully recorded in Stuck’s book, The Ascent of Denali. Out of respect for the Native people among whom he lived and worked, Stuck refused to refer to the mountain as McKinley.

First mention of "the mountain" was in 1794, when English explorer Capt. George Vancouver spotted "a stupendous snow mountain" from Cook Inlet. Early Russian explorers and traders called the peak Bolshaia Gora, or “Big Mountain.” The Athabascan Indians of the region called it Denali, “the High One.” In 1896 a prospector, William A. Dickey, named the mountain for presidential nominee William McKinley of Ohio, although McKinley had no connection with Alaska. Protests that the mountain be returned to its original name, Denali, ensued almost at once. But it was not until the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 changed the park’s status and name that the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the mountain’s name back to Denali. (The U.S. Board of Geographic Names, however, still shows the mountain as McKinley.)