Denali Fault Case Study

unt McKinley, also called Denali, highest peak in North America. It is located near the centre of the Alaska Range, with two summits rising above the Denali Fault in south-central Alaska, U.S. Its official elevation figure of 20,320 feet (6,194 metres) was established in the early 1950s. Subsequent attempts to measure the mountain’s height have yielded different values. One such survey, conducted in 2010 using advanced radar technology, was made public in September 2013 and gave McKinley’s elevation as 20,237 feet (6,168 metres). However, that measurement remained unofficial. Mount McKinley lies about 130 miles (210 km) north-northwest of Anchorage and some 170 miles (275 km) southwest of Fairbanks in Denali National Park and Preserve. The mountain is essentially a giant block of granite that was lifted above Earth’s crust during a period of tectonic activity that began about 60 million years ago. It rises abruptly some 18,000 feet (5,500 metres) from Denali Fault at its base to the higher, more

The first attempt to climb it was made in 1903 by an American judge, James Wickersham, but it was unsuccessful. A much-publicized but fraudulent claim by the physician and explorer Frederick A. Cook that he had reached the top inspired the conquest of the North Peak in 1910, by two prospectors of what was dubbed the “Sourdough Expedition.” On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens led a party to the South Peak, the true summit. A climbing party was first airlifted onto the mountain’s flanks in 1932; beginning in the 1950s, this became the standard way to attempt a summit climb, as it reduced the trip by several weeks. Most climbers are now flown to southern-facing Kahiltna Glacier at an elevation of 7,200 feet (2,195 metres), where the greatest number follow the West Buttress route. On average, several hundred climbers reach the summit each