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Mount McKinley
USINFO | 2013-05-06 13:07
Mount McKinley (also known as Denali taken from the Inuit Koyukon Athabaskan language meaning "The High One") is the highest mountain peak in the United States and in North America with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. At some 18,000 feet (5,486 m), the base to peak rise is considered the largest of any mountain situated entirely above sea level.[3] Measured by topographic prominence, it is the third most prominent peak after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of US state of Alaska, it is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.
The first European to document sighting the mountain was George Vancouver in 1794. In 1903, James Wickersham recorded the first attempt at climbing McKinley which was unsuccessful. In 1906, Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent which was later proven to be false. The first verifiable ascent to McKinley's summit was achieved on 7 June 1913 by climbers Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum. In 1951, Bradford Washburn pioneered the West Buttress route considered to be the safest and easiest route and therefore the most popular currently in use.
The mountain is characterized by extremely cold weather. Temperatures as low as −75.5 °F (−59.7 °C) and windchills as low as −118.1 °F (−83.4 °C) have been recorded by an automated weather station located at 18,733 feet (5,700 m). According to the National Park Service, in 1932 the Liek-Lindley expedition recovered a self-recording minimum thermometer left near Browne's Tower, at about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), on Mount McKinley by the Stuck-Karstens party in 1913. The spirit thermometer was calibrated down to −95 °F (−71 °C), and the lowest recorded temperature was below that point. Harry J. Lek took the thermometer back to Washington, D.C. where it was tested by the United States Weather Bureau and found to be accurate. The lowest temperature that it had recorded was found to be approximately −100 °F (−73 °C).
The Koyukon Athabaskans are the first Native Americans with access to the flanks of the mountain (living in the Yukon, Tanana and Kuskokwim basins).[2] George Vancouver became the first European to sight McKinley when he noted "distant stupendous mountains" while surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet on 6 May 1794.[16] The Russian explorer Lavrenty Zagoskin explored the Tanana and Kuskokwim rivers in 1843 and 1844 and was probably the first European to sight the mountain from the other side.[17]
William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born Seattleite who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his returning from Alaska, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on 24 January 1897.[18] His report drew attention with the sentence "We have no doubt that this peak is the highest in North America, and estimate that it is over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high." Until then 18,000-foot (5,500 m) Mount Saint Elias was believed to be the continent’s highest point, and Mount Logan was still unknown.[17] Though later praised for his estimate, Dickey admitted that other prospector parties had also guessed the mountain to be over 20,000 feet (6,100 m).
The first European to document sighting the mountain was George Vancouver in 1794. In 1903, James Wickersham recorded the first attempt at climbing McKinley which was unsuccessful. In 1906, Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent which was later proven to be false. The first verifiable ascent to McKinley's summit was achieved on 7 June 1913 by climbers Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum. In 1951, Bradford Washburn pioneered the West Buttress route considered to be the safest and easiest route and therefore the most popular currently in use.
The mountain is characterized by extremely cold weather. Temperatures as low as −75.5 °F (−59.7 °C) and windchills as low as −118.1 °F (−83.4 °C) have been recorded by an automated weather station located at 18,733 feet (5,700 m). According to the National Park Service, in 1932 the Liek-Lindley expedition recovered a self-recording minimum thermometer left near Browne's Tower, at about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), on Mount McKinley by the Stuck-Karstens party in 1913. The spirit thermometer was calibrated down to −95 °F (−71 °C), and the lowest recorded temperature was below that point. Harry J. Lek took the thermometer back to Washington, D.C. where it was tested by the United States Weather Bureau and found to be accurate. The lowest temperature that it had recorded was found to be approximately −100 °F (−73 °C).
The Koyukon Athabaskans are the first Native Americans with access to the flanks of the mountain (living in the Yukon, Tanana and Kuskokwim basins).[2] George Vancouver became the first European to sight McKinley when he noted "distant stupendous mountains" while surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet on 6 May 1794.[16] The Russian explorer Lavrenty Zagoskin explored the Tanana and Kuskokwim rivers in 1843 and 1844 and was probably the first European to sight the mountain from the other side.[17]
William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born Seattleite who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his returning from Alaska, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on 24 January 1897.[18] His report drew attention with the sentence "We have no doubt that this peak is the highest in North America, and estimate that it is over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high." Until then 18,000-foot (5,500 m) Mount Saint Elias was believed to be the continent’s highest point, and Mount Logan was still unknown.[17] Though later praised for his estimate, Dickey admitted that other prospector parties had also guessed the mountain to be over 20,000 feet (6,100 m).
