Denali

By the numbers, Denali ("The Great One" in the native Athabaskan language) is remarkable: it's the highest peak in North America at 20,237 ft above sea level, and the third-highest in the world after Mount Everest in the Himalayas and Aconcagua in the Argentinian Andes. Measuring 18,000 feet from base to peak, Denali (a.k.a. Mt. McKinley) is the largest mountain mountain in the world entirely above sea level. The mountain's South Summit is the highest point, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 feet. Temperatures on the mountain have been recorded to drop as low as −100 °F, and Denali is the birthplace of five major glaciers: Peters, Muldrow, Traleika, Ruth, and Kahiltna. Explorer George Vancouver was the first European to record a sighting of the mountain, in 1794. The realization around the turn of the 20th century that the mountain was the highest peak on the continent led to a series of attempts to reach the summit, with early claims of success considered to be false. Despite the mountain's formidable terrain, thin air and harsh weather, the first conquest of the North Summit was almost casual, accomplished in 1910 by a group of lightly dressed locals carrying donuts and hot chocolate. In 1913, a group of climbers led by Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens (who would later become the park's first superintendent) reached the top of the South Summit; Walter Harper, a Native Alaskan, was the first man to stand atop the mountain. Today, attempts to reach the summit are common, and more than half are successful; nearly all climbers follow the classic West Buttress route to the top of Denali.