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At 20,310 feet, Denali dominates the already colossal landscape of the Alaska Range, rising above the horizon of Alaska’s two largest cities, Fairbanks and Anchorage. Seeing Denali, the mountain formerly known as Mount McKinley and the highest peak on the continent, remains at the top of travelers’ bucket lists. Known around the world for its amazing scenery and wildlife, Denali National Park is a place of excitement, inspiration and exploration for travelers. One of the most popular activities is exploring Denali by bus along the 92-mile Denali Park Road. Take in the extraordinary landscape and the opportunity to see Denali (weather permitting)! Tour bus drivers narrate and pause for views of wildlife and scenery. Less expensive, non-narrated shuttle buses, called Visitor Transportation Shuttles (VTS), provide more flexibility to explore the park at your leisure. These buses also stop for wildlife and scenery viewing/picture taking. Lucky visitors will see grizzly and…

During the seventh night of an eight-day ascent up Denali’s demanding Cassin Ridge, Mike Helms and I anchored our tent to a precarious perch at 18,000 feet. That night, we survived hurricane-force winds and in the morning, woke to temperatures that had plummeted to -35 degrees. We waited for the sun before starting for the summit, but the sun offered little warmth, and in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere we struggled to move one foot higher than the other. When we reached 19,500 feet, we saw a small tent and a single climber waving frantically. We arrived to find a man named Jack Roberts; his toes were frostbitten, and his partner, Simon McCartney, lay in the tent semiconscious with high-altitude cerebral edema. We considered our options and hatched a plan: Mike and Jack would continue over the summit and return with rescuers, and I would wait with Simon. They left, but the…

Denali

Denali – The Great One

Reliving the High Life – Returning to the Site of a Near Tragedy

Denali

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