Denali
디날리
Denali is the highest mountain in North America. Its summit is 6,190 metres (20,310 feet) above sea level, in the Alaska Range in central Alaska, USA, and it is the centrepiece of Denali National Park and Preserve. It is also the northernmost mountain in the world above 6,000 metres.
See it on the 3D globe →At a glance
- Country
- United States
- Location
- Alaska, USA
- Height
- 6,190 m
- Type
- Mountain
Quick answers
Where is Denali?
Denali is in Alaska, USA, United States.
North America's highest peak, with one of the greatest base-to-summit rises of any mountain on land.
What makes it special is how much of the mountain you can see. It rises from a sloping plain about 300 to 900 metres above sea level, so from base to summit it climbs about 5,500 metres, one of the greatest rises of any mountain on land. Mount Everest starts from a much higher plateau, so its base-to-peak rise is smaller. Denali is also the third most prominent and third most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua.
Names and history
The Koyukon people who live around the mountain have called it Denali for centuries, from a word meaning high or tall. When Russia owned Alaska it was known as Bolshaya Gora, Russian for big mountain. In 1896 a gold prospector named it Mount McKinley after a presidential candidate, and that was the official US name from 1917 until 2015.
The US government switched to Denali in 2015, and in January 2025 the official federal name was changed back to Mount McKinley. Alaska has used Denali since 1975.
Climbing it
The first verified climb to the summit was on 7 June 1913, by Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper and Robert Tatum. An earlier claim from 1906 is questioned. The West Buttress route, first used by Bradford Washburn in 1951, is considered the safest and easiest, and is the most popular.
In 2015 the US Geological Survey measured the peak at 6,190 metres, ten feet lower than the 1952 number.
A mountain of granite and ice
Denali is mostly pink granite-like rock that was pushed up when the Pacific plate slid beneath the North American plate, while softer rock above it wore away. A bend in the Denali Fault, a long crack in Earth's crust, squeezes the land and keeps lifting it.
The mountain has two summits. The South Summit is the higher one, and the North Summit is 5,934 metres. Five big glaciers flow off its slopes, and the Kahiltna Glacier, about 71 kilometres long, is the longest in the Alaska Range.
Fun facts
- 'Denali' means 'the high one' in the Koyukon language.
- Denali is a granite mass lifted up by tectonic pressure.
- An earlier measurement from 1952 gave 6,194 metres; a 2015 survey gave 6,190 metres.
- Its summit rises about 5,500 metres above the plateaus around it, one of the biggest rises of any mountain on land.
- The Kahiltna Glacier, on its southwest side, is about 71 kilometres long.
On the globe
The model shows the huge snowy peak rising above the surrounding land. Look for the snow and glaciers on the slopes.
Nearby on the globe
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14