Â鶹APP

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Mount McKinley

Image by bassmiller67 from

Mount McKinley is located near the centre of the Alaska Range, with two of its summits rising above the Denali Fault in South Central Alaska. A summit is the highest point of a mountain.

1. Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in North America

Image by Adam Derewecki from

Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in North America with a 6,000 meters elevation, 11 peaks that exceed 5,000 metres and all its 100 peaks exceeding 4,076 metres which is roughly 13, 373 feet elevation.

Of the 100 peaks, 81 are located in the U.S., 17 in Canada, 7 in Mexico and 1 in Guatemala. Also, 6 of these peaks lie on the Canada- U.S border.

2. Its naming has been a dispute for the longest time

Image by bassmiller67 from

Mount McKinley became a subject of dispute in 1975 when Alaska Legislative asked U.S Federal government to change its name to Denali. This name is based on the Koyukon name of the Mountain, Deenaalee, which means ‘the high one.’

The Koyukon are a people of the Alaskan Athatbaskas who are Alaska native people of the Athabaskan speaking ethnolinguistic group. They have settled in the area north of the mountain.

Thus in 1975, Alaska made a request that the mountain be renamed and officially recognized as Denali since it was still the common name being used in the state. Their attempts were however blocked by members of the congressional delegation from Ohio.

3. Mount McKinley was unofficially named after president William McKinley

William McKinley- Source; Library of Congress-

In 1896, the mountain was unofficially named Mount McKinley by a gold prospector of the name, William Dickey and then officially by the federal government in 1917 so as to commemorate William McKinley.McKinley was U.S president from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.

Under discoveries in Alaska (1896), William Dickey stated, “We named our great peak Mount McKinley after William McKinley of Ohio who had been nominated for the presidency and that fact was the first news we received on our way out of that wonderful wilderness.”

4. The mountain was officially renamed Denali in 2015

Image by David Mark from

In August 2015, secretary of Interior, announced that the name would officially change even in all federal documents.

Her argument was that the federal government permitted her as secretary of the interior to name geographical features if the Board on Geographic names doesn’t act within a reasonable period of time.

She quoted the board’s failure to act on the state’s four-decade-old request arguing, “I think any of us would think that 40 years is an unreasonable amount of time.”

Thus on the first week of September 2015, while on a visit to Alaska, President Barack Obama announced the official renaming of the mountain.

5. First attempt to climb Mount McKinley in 1903 was unsuccessful

James Wickersham in 1914- Source; scanned from the book of Alaska-

The first attempt to climb Mount McKinley was made in 1903 by an American judge of the name James Wickersham. It was however unsuccessful as he never managed to complete the ascent.

6. First successful ascent of the mountain was in 1913

On June 7th 1913, , and Robert Tatum made history by managing to climb to the summit of the highest peak in North America.

The four men stood on the top of Mount McKinley for the very first time. Hudson stuck made a comment and elaborated, “anyone who thinks that the climbing of Denali is a picnic is badly mistaken.”

7. A climbing party was first airlifted onto the mountain’s side in 1932

Mount McKinley- Author; Denali National Park and Preserve-

In 1932, a climbing party was first airlifted onto the sides of the mountain. By the beginning of the 1950s, this became the standard way of attempting a summit climb since it reduced the trip by several weeks.

Presently, most climbers are flown to a base camp on Kahiltna Glacier at an elevation of 7,200 feet where the majority of the number follow the West Buttes route. Averagely, 700 climbers attempt to reach the summit every year.

8. Reaching its summit is quite a challenge

A climber at the summit of Mount McKinley- Author; 8848hehe-

As Hudson stuck mentioned, anyone who thinks climbing the mountain is a picnic, is badly mistaken. The severe cold and challenging glaciers are one of the challenges climbers face when trying to reach its summit.

Located at 63 degrees North and 151 degrees West, the far northern latitude causes the area surrounding the mountain to have extremely low pressure. This effect is more experienced on Mount McKinley than on other high mountains of the world.

It has been estimated that only about 50% of those who attempt to reach the summit are ever successful. Experts say that the best months to attempt the climb are April, May and June.

9. Its summit is permanently covered in snow

Image by Brennan Emerson from

The summit of Mount McKinley is always white at the top as it is permanently covered in snow. This is because of its extremely cold temperatures that can even reach to -75 degrees.

Wind chills can be as low as -118 degrees. Some of its glaciers are more than 30 miles long, with the highest being Kahiltna glacier which is 44 miles long.

10. George Vancouver was the first European to sight the mountain

George Vancouver- Source; National Portrait Gallery(London)-

On May 6th 1794, George Vancouver became the first European to sight the mountain. He was a British Royal Navy officer, well known for his expeditions between 1791 and 1795.

He explored and charted a large part of North America, especially the coastal areas of the Northwestern Pacific. This includes present-day Oregon, Washington, Alaska and British Columbia in Canada.

In his journal, Vancouver mentioned seeing a distant stupendous mountain when surveying the Knik arm of cook inlet. He however did not give a name to the mountain then, as was his norm during his expeditions.

Mount McKinley- Photo by Casey Allen on

Mount McKinley still remains to be a tourist attraction and quite a spectacular natural feature to see in North America.