Denali National Park and Preserve

by Shelby Carpenter

Overview

Denali means The High One in Athabascan. Standing at 20,237 feet, Denali is the tallest mountain in North America and has roughly 14,000 feet of vertical relief from base camp to summit—more even than Mount Everest. While native populations had lived within the boundaries of today's Denali National Park and Preserve for over 7,000 years, white settlers only arrived en masse starting in the 1890s. When they did arrive, it was to chase after Denali's abundant game supply and placer gold in the Kantishna mining area. Only a handful of renegades made attempts on the peak at the turn of the century. Setting off with two thermoses of hot chocolate and six donuts—and a 14-foot spruce pole to set on the summit—the Sourdough Expedition reached the mountain's north peak in 1910. Today, Denali draws over a thousand climbers each year, and the park provides a safe haven for wildlife and a beautiful natural playground for other backpackers and explorers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467131704
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	05/26/2014
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Shelby Carpenter is a freelance writer, a mountain guide with the American Alpine Institute, and a former resident of Anchorage, Alaska. The images in this book come from the Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, the Candy Waugaman Collection in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Library of Congress.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 The Kantishna Gold Rush 11

2 Early Climbing 33

3 The First Years of the Park 45

4 Military Influence and the Tourism Boom 87

5 Modern Climbing 105

Bibliography 127