How tall is Mt. McKinley?
Mt. McKinley is definately Alaska’s greatest boast. Alaskans refer to it as ‘Denali’ — the Athabascan word meaning ‘The Great One’ — it stands a glorious 20,320 feet high and is part of the Alaska Range. Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in the United States. Most consider it to be the second highest on earth. However, if you consider the actual “rise” of the mountain, from its base to its peak, McKinley is actually a much higher mountain than Everest, even though Everest reaches higher into the sky. This is because Everest sits atop the Tibetan Plateau which is already 17,000 feet above sea level. The mountain, itself, is an additional 12,000 — putting its peak at around 29,000 feet (8,900 meters) above sea level. Denali, on the other hand, sits atop a plateau that is only 2,000 feet high and the mountain itself is 18,000 feet high, for a peak that is just over 20,000 feet above sea level.
