North America’s Highest Mountain, Geography, How It Got Named

Size, Explorers, Climbers, Naming the Majestic Mountain

File:Wonder Lake and Denali.jpg, From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, Description Wonder Lake and Denali (original Flickr title: Reflection Pond), Author Denali National Park and Preserve This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America. It has a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. It has also been known as Mount McKinley. It is the third most prominent and third most isolated of any peak on earth.

It is the highest peak in North America and the northernmost mountain above 19,685 feet. Measured from the base to the peak it comes in at 18,000 feet making it one of the largest mountains situated entirely above sea level.

The coldest temperature ever recorded was -100 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill down to -118. There is a weather station located at 18,773 feet. Denali — Wikipedia

Name of the Great One

What’s in a name? The Koyukon people that inhabited the area around the mountain referred to it as Denali for centuries. In 1896, a gold prospector named it Mount McKinley in support of presidential candidate William McKinley.

Mount McKinley was the “official” name recognized by the federal government from 1917 to 2015. In August 2015 the United States Department of the Interior changed the official name to Denali. Denali — Wikipedia