Climb-mckinley

Best American Adventures: Climb Mount McKinley

ByMary Anne Potts
October 04, 2010
3 min read

We've just updated our popular America's
Best Adventures
feature with 50 new trips, bringing our grand total to 100 iconic escapes (see the map, state-by-state list, and photo gallery, too). So no matter what your pleasure—hiking,
heli-skiing, surfing, climbing, biking, or paddling—we've got the perfect adventure
for you. Check in each day for a new, out-the-backdoor adventure highlighted here on our blog.

Photograph by Dan Evans, My Shot

Standing atop the highest point in North America requires a good bit of luck and a big investment of time. The biggest obstacle
on 20,320-foot (6,194-meter) Mount McKinley (or Denali, in native
Athabaskan), which is the centerpiece of Alaska’s Denali National Park
& Preserve, is the weather.

A successful
climb requires a lot of waiting for the right window. But reach the top
and you have claimed one of the most difficult of the famed Seven
Summits and the mountain with the greatest vertical relief on the
planet, rising 18,000 feet (5,486 meters) from its base. (Compare that
with Mount Everest’s 12,000 feet/3,658 meters of vertical rise.) Denali
is a test piece for climbers at the top of their game, but the summit
is still a solid goal for less experienced mountaineers who hire a
guide.

There are numerous ways to the top, but
the standard route—and the one most guides use with clients—is the West
Buttress, which begins at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) and steadily makes
its way up the mountain. Though it’s not particularly technical, the
route is challenging simply for the extended exposure at elevation and
requires more vertical stepping than a trip up Everest’s South Col.

Far
more challenging is the Cassin Ridge, one of the most famous technical
alpine climbs on the planet, dishing out 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) of
sustained, exposed climbing on mixed steep ice and 5.7 rock. But those
routes are just the beginning: The Harvard Route on the Wickersham
Wall, climbed in 1963 by members of the Harvard Mountaineering Club,
has never been repeated.

Need to Know:
Less experienced climbers start with an eight-day training course
(starting at $2,000), then sign up for 21-plus days on Mount McKinley
(starting at $6,000) with Alpine Ascents International (www.alpineascents.com).

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