Mount McKinley in Denali
The mountain sprawls across the Alaska tundra like half a planet, gleaming white and broad shouldered. How big is it really? It’s hard to tell by looking. And one can read the facts, and accept them, and still not know the measure of the place. Alaska natives expressed their awe with a single word, Denali, which means “the high one.” With all due respect to the 25th American President, the mountain remains the ineffable Denali in the eyes of many. The summit towers 20,320 feet above sea level, more than 18,000 feet above the base. This gives the mountain an all-in-one-view vertical rise more than a mile greater than Mount Everest, which begins its grand ascent at an already lofty elevation of about 17,000 feet. But comparisons are good only for discussion. A true understanding of the mountain and its relationship to those gazing at it in wonderment lies somewhere in the experience of being near it. Climbers, hikers, and travelers of all types have tried to understand it. It’s safe to say, as with Everest, that no one has fully succeeded.