Abstract
Denali (63.0691°N, 151.0062°W), once known as Mount McKinley, is the highest peak in North America at 6190 m (20,320 ft).
Denali roughly translates to the “Great One” in the local Athabaskan language. It was first climbed in 1913 by Walter Harper, a young Athabaskan guide, and a team led by Hudson Stuck, the bishop for the Episcopal Church in Alaska. They climbed it from the north, dog sledding in for weeks, and starting the glaciated portion of the climbing at about 1500 m (∼5000 ft). That left 4500 vertical meters (∼15,600 ft) yet to climb, or more than twice the elevation gain from Everest Base Camp to its summit.
Denali has featured significantly in wilderness medicine lore, whether from the pioneering frostbite work of Alaskan physician William Mills, 1 along with Bradford Washburn,2,3 to more recent work focusing on altitude medicine at the Denali Medical Research Center. 4
Through 2006, over 30,000 people attempted the mountain, with about 50% summitting and nearly 100 losing their lives in the attempt. 5 While not technically difficult to climb, the 6000-m altitude, combined with high latitude, creates a challenging environment including a long approach, numerous crevasses, intense cold, very high altitude, and ferocious storms. Prior to COVID-19 about 1000 climbers a year attempted the peak.
This photo was taken from the south, southeast at sunrise on the vernal equinox from Denali Lake, 75 km away. The elevation there is about 200 m (∼700 ft), meaning the summit towers almost 6000 m above.