Climbed June/July 2011 (reached 17,500' stopped by hurricane winds on summit)

North America: Denali (20,320'/6194m)

Denali is the native American name for the mountain but it was changed to Mt. McKinley in honor of President McKinley and then officially changed back to Denali by the National park Service in 1980. It is in central Alaska - 300 miles South of the Arctic Circle and 200 miles East of the Bearing Sea. Denali offers some the the largest vertical gain of any mountain on Earth. With base camp at 7,200' and the summit at 20,320', this 13,120' of gain over twelve miles is larger than Cho Oyu (8,407) or even Everest (10,535). The biggest threat on Denali is the weather. It is well known for socking you in for days with high winds and snow. An estimated 32,000 climbers have attempted Denali with about a 40% success rate. Almost 100 have died including 11 in 1992.

The second highest mountain in North America is Mt. Logan in Canada's Yukon at 19,551'/5959m and is 385 miles southeast of Denali. Similar to Denali it is a huge massif but with eleven peaks. Logan is believed to have the largest base circumference of any mountain. The normal route is consider straightforward but weather is a huge problem for Logan like it is for Denali in addition to being so remote.

The National Park Service website shows an usually low number of summits this year at 492 or a 44% summit percentage, the lowest in 13 years. Here's a look at the summit stats for the popular West Buttress route from 2000 to 2012 along with the most popular summit day:

Denali Resources

I have climb on Denali three times. You can read about my climbs thru these links:

• Denali 2001
• Denali 2007
• Denali 2011
• Denali FAQ
• Denali Picture Gallery
• Gear List