Climb Denali – Alpine Ascents International

We acknowledge we gather upon the ancestral lands of the Dena’ina Elnena, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Tanana, and Ahtna tribes [known greatly as the Athabascan tribes]. These communities have lived on and stewarded the lands surrounding Deenaalee [The Koyukon tribe original spelling of Denali] since time immemorial, and continue to do so today. We recognize that this land acknowledgment is one small step toward true ally-ship and we commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond.

History of Denali

The name Denali derives from the Koyukon language word “deenaalee” meaning “the Great one”. The Koyukon tribe resides on the North side of the park. There are five Athabaskan languages within the park, each has their own significance and name for the highest mountain in the North American range. Below is an audio transcription of the Nenana tribe’s creation story of Denali (Transcribed from Chief Mitch Demientieff of Nenana’s reading Eielson Visitor Center 2008)

“Long before Denali was created, there lived in Alaska an Indian named Yahoo. He possessed great power but had no wife. Yahoo built a canoe and paddled west to find one. As he approached the raven chief village, he began singing a song that explained that he was seeking a wife.
The wife of the second chief spoke softly: “You may have my daughter for your wife, but take her and go quickly. The raven chief is preparing to kill you!”
Yahoo began to paddle away with the young woman. The raven chief was right behind him. The raven chief caused a great storm. The water became very rough. Yahoo took out a powerful stone and threw it ahead of him, calming the waters, but mountainous green waves continued to roll behind him.
Next the raven chief threw his great spear at Yahoo, but Yahoo, using medicine, changed the large wave behind him into a mountain of stone just in time. The great spear glanced off the crest of the stone mountain. There was a second tremendous wave of water, even greater than the first. Yahoo used all his medicine to turn this wave into a tremendous mountain of stone. When the great spear hit the top of the mountain, there was a crash of breaking rock, and the great spear flew off into the sky.
The raven chief was paddling so quickly, his canoe struck the second great mountain of stone. The raven chief was thrown onto the rocks, where he changed instantly into a raven and flapped to the top of the mountain. Exhausted, Yahoo fell asleep. When he awoke he was back at home with his new wife at his side. Gazing around, Yahoo saw the two mountains he had created. There was a smaller one to the west now called Foraker, but the larger one, the one the great war spear glanced off before shooting into the stars, that mighty dome would be called – Denali! The Great One!
Yahoo looked at the sky to see the great raven happy to be back with his people, dancing his approval in the wind.

It is no secret that Denali evokes amazement and demands its presence as it looms over the Alaskan landscape. Denali has become a role model for the possibility of successful reclamation of mountains to their indigenous names. Throughout the centuries the looming peak has held many names, Mount McKinley and Denali are the two most recognizable. Mount McKinley, became the official name of the peak for almost a century starting in 1917. This name was coined by a gold prospector William Dickey, who named the towering mountain in regard to the late president William McKinley. The president had no connection to Alaska- let alone the mountain, but the name became widely recognized after his assassination in 1901. Many pushed back against the name change, appalled that the original indigenous name had been removed. Mount McKinley stood as the official name until controversy arose in 1975 around the official naming of the peak. It wasn’t until 2015 when the name was officially returned to Denali.

History of Alaskan Tribes

Since the last Ice Age, Native American tribes have called the land surrounding Denali home. The land of Alaska provides little comfort. Alaskan indigenous cultures have skillfully and expertly adapted their ways of life to meet the demands of the changing environment. The arctic environment provides no livestock suitable to be domesticated, or land to plant crops. The tundra environment is harsh and lends itself only to a hunter gatherer nature, tribes have survived and thrived upon this land for millennia. During the gold rush when settlers began to flock to Alaska, they often found themselves overwhelmed by the harsh landscape. The success of many gold panners and trading routes was due to the activity and support of indigenous tribes. They often helped provide furs for trade, aided exploratory teams in crisis, and maintained centers for travelers to visit on their journeys to gold panning sites. Due to the remote location of Alaska, and the slow movement of the US to urbanize the state, there were no treaties created. Indigenous tribes still occupy a large amount of the land they have lived on for millennia.

Climbing History

The first climbing attempt was made by the Sourdough Expedition (William Taylor and Pete Anderson) utilizing the Muldrow Glacier. They summited the north peak (19,740’) in 1910. About three years later, in 1913, a team comprised of Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, Robert Tatum, Walter Harper, and Harry Karstens successfully climbed the south peak, reaching the true summit. It was Harper, a native Athabascan, who first stood atop North America. Between 1913 and 1950, there were very few ascents of Denali. The landmark achievement, which opened Denali to a larger group of climbers, was Bradford Washburn’s 1951 expedition, which reached the summit of Denali via the West Buttress. Washburn’s team, using a plane fitted with skis to access the Kahiltna Glacier, pioneered the most popular route on the mountain.

First Climbed: 1913, W. Harper, H. Stuck, R. Tatum & H. Karstens
First Climb of West Buttress: 1951, Bradford & Barbara Washburn

Alpine Ascents is an authorized concessioner of Denali National Park and Preserve.