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119-470: Human habitation in the Denali Region extends to more than 11,000 years before the present, with documented sites just outside park boundaries dated to more than 8,000 years before the present. However, relatively few archaeological sites have been documented within the park boundaries, owing to the region's high elevation, with harsh winter conditions and scarce resources compared to lower elevations in

238-709: A "reasonable" period. In 1992, Christopher McCandless ventured into the Alaskan wilderness and settled in an abandoned bus in the park on the Stampede Trail at 63°52′5.96″N 149°46′8.39″W  /  63.8683222°N 149.7689972°W  / 63.8683222; -149.7689972 , near Lake Wentitika. He carried little food or equipment, and hoped to live simply for a time in solitude. Almost four months later, McCandless' starved remains were found, weighing only 67 lb (30 kg). His story has been widely publicized via articles, books, and films , and

357-622: A Tragic Climb, which Snyder published in 1973, and White Winds: America's Most Tragic Climb, which Wilcox published in 1981. In 2008, author James M. Tabor published Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters, which won the National Outdoor Book Award . In 2012, Jeffery Babcock, one of the members of the MCA group that searched for

476-531: A dirt road that effectively stops at the park boundary near the former location of the Into the Wild bus. The rugged south portion of the park, characterized by large glacier -filled canyons , is accessed by Petersville Road, a dirt road that stops about 5 mi (8.0 km) outside the park. The mountains can be accessed most easily by air taxis that land on the glaciers. Kantishna can also be reached by air taxi via

595-426: A later interview about the incident, Paul Schlichter speculated that the two bodies found here were those of Dennis Luchterhand and Walt Taylor, who were the most fit of the group that perished. None of the other four remains were ever located. The three bodies found on the mountain were left behind, as no high-elevation recovery equipment existed at the time of the disaster. In 1968, a humanitarian expedition climbed

714-402: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in the park, and on November 3, 2002, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred. These earthquakes did not cause a significant loss of life or property, since the area is very sparsely populated, but they did trigger thousands of landslides. Glaciers cover about 16% of the 6 million acres of Denali National Park and Preserve. Measurements indicate that glaciers in

833-436: A more experienced climbing group from Colorado led by Howard Snyder, who intended to climb the mountain at the same time. Snyder's group initially consisted of four men: Snyder (age 22), brothers Jerry (age 31) and Steve Lewis, and Paul Schlichter (age 22). The four intended to climb by themselves, but shortly before leaving for Alaska, Steve Lewis was injured in a traffic accident and was unable to climb. With his team now below

952-451: A mosaic, due to periodic fires. In the tundra of the park, layers of topsoil collect on rotten fragmented rock moved by thousands of years of glacial activity. Mosses , ferns , grasses, and fungi grow on the topsoil. In areas of muskeg , tussocks form and may collect algae . The term 'muskeg' includes spongy waterlogged tussocks as well as deep pools of water covered by solid-looking moss. Wild blueberries and soap berries thrive in

1071-714: A section of the oceanic crust has been uplifted and thrust onto a continental area. Some of the youngest rocks in the park include the Kahiltna terrane, which is a flysch sequence (a sedimentary rock sequence deposited in a marine environment during the early stages of mountain building) formed about 100 million years ago, during late Cretaceous time. Another rock sequence is the McKinley Intrusive Sequence, which includes Denali. The Cantwell Volcanics include basalt and rhyolite flows, as well as ash deposits. An example can be seen at Polychrome Pass in

1190-423: A shop, a lunch counter, a kitchen, and a storeroom. By the 1930s, there were reports of lice, dirty linen, drafty rooms, and marginal food, which led to the hotel eventually closing. After being abandoned for many years, the hotel was destroyed in 1972 by a fire. The 93 mi (150 km) Park Road was completed in 1938 after 17 years of construction. There was no road access to the park entrance until 1957 when

1309-566: A small bookstore. Eielson Visitor Center is located four hours into the park on the road (at mile marker 66). It features restrooms, daily ranger-led programs during the summer, and on clear days, views of Denali and the Alaska Range. Wonder Lake and Kantishna are a six-hour bus ride from the Visitors Center. During the winter, only the portion of Denali Park Road near the Visitors Center remains open. Kantishna features five lodges:

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1428-549: A storm hit the upper slopes of the mountain. Clark radioed rangers at the Eielson Visitor Center that they were still on the upper slopes of the mountain and unsure of where they were due to dense fog . They reported that they had decided to bivouac where they were and hope for better weather in the morning. At 11:30 a.m. on July 18, Clark radioed to the Visitor Center again, reporting that five of

1547-403: Is 3,800 ft (1,200 m) thick. However, the largest glacier, Muldrow Glacier (32 miles (51 km) long), is located on the north side. Nonetheless, the northern side has smaller and shorter glaciers overall. Muldrow glacier has "surged" twice in the last hundred years. Surging means that it has moved forward for a short time at greatly increased speed, due to a build-up of water between

1666-568: Is Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley. Its elevation of 20,310 ft (6,190.5 m) makes it the highest mountain in North America. Its vertical relief (distance from base to peak) of 18,000 ft (5,500 m) is the highest of any mountain in the world. The mountain is still gaining about 1 mm (0.039 in) in height each year due to the continued convergence of the North American and Pacific Plates . The mountain

1785-569: Is also debated, since it may fall in either the Pacific Coast group – if that exists – or into the Northern group. The records of Nicola are so poor – Krauss describes them as "too few and too wretched" (Krauss 2005) – that it is difficult to make any reliable conclusions about it. Nicola may be intermediate between Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai and Chilcotin . Similarly to Nicola, there is very limited documentation on Tsetsaut . Consequently, it

1904-530: Is an outline of the classification according to Keren Rice , based on those published in Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999). It represents what is generously called the "Rice–Goddard–Mithun" classification (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:73), although it is almost entirely due to Keren Rice. Branches 1–7 are the Northern Athabaskan (areal) grouping. Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai (#7) was normally placed inside

2023-416: Is debatably part of the Pacific Coast subgroup, but has marginally more in common with the Northern Athabaskan languages than it does with the Pacific Coast languages (Leer 2005). It thus forms a notional sort of bridge between the Northern Athabaskan languages and the Pacific Coast languages, along with Nicola (Krauss 1979/2004). Using computational phylogenetic methods, Sicoli & Holton (2014) proposed

2142-537: Is difficult to place it in the family with much certainty. Athabaskanists have concluded that it is a Northern Athabaskan language consistent with its geographical occurrence, and that it might have some relation to its distant neighbor Tahltan. Tsetsaut, however, shares its primary hydronymic suffix ("river, stream") with Sekani, Beaver, and Tsuut'ina – PA *-ɢah – rather than with that of Tahltan, Tagish, Kaska, and North and South Tutchone – PA *-tuʼ (Kari 1996; Kari, Fall, & Pete 2003:39). The ambiguity surrounding Tsetsaut

2261-615: Is distantly related to the Athabaskan–Eyak group to form the Na-Dene family , also known as Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit (AET). With Jeff Leer 's 2010 advances, the reconstructions of Na-Dene (or Athabascan–Eyak–Tlingit) consonants, this latter grouping is considered by Alaskan linguists to be a well-demonstrated family. Because both Tlingit and Eyak are fairly remote from the Athabaskan languages in terms of their sound systems, comparison

2380-496: Is located between 30 and 100 feet (9.1 and 30.5 m) below the active layer. A stand of oddly leaning white spruce growing on a lower slope of Denali is called the Drunken Forest . The trees lean due to the soil sliding as a result of permafrost freeze/thaw cycles. Permafrost impacts the ecosystem in the park by influencing hydrology, patterns of vegetation, and wildlife. During the very cold Pleistocene climates, all of Denali

2499-466: Is one of the Algonquian languages and therefore not itself an Athabaskan language. The name was assigned by Albert Gallatin in his 1836 (written 1826) classification of the languages of North America. He acknowledged that it was his choice to use this name for the language family and the associated ethnic groups: "I have designated them by the arbitrary denomination of Athabascas, which derived from

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2618-542: Is primarily made of granite , a hard rock that does not erode easily; this is why it has retained such a great height rather than being eroded. The park area is characterized by collision tectonics : over the past millions of years, exotic terranes in the Pacific Ocean have been moving toward the North American landmass and accreting, or attaching, to the area that now makes up Alaska. The oldest rocks in

2737-784: Is rapid, and blocks of ice are still buried under till . When the ice under the till melts, the till slumps in and forms depressions called kettles. When kettles fill with water, they are known as kettle lakes. Kettle lakes are visible near the Polychrome Overlook, the Teklanika rest stop, and Wonder Lake. Permanently frozen ground is known as permafrost . The permafrost is discontinuous in Denali due to differences in vegetation, temperatures, snow cover, and hydrology. The active layer freezing and thawing seasonally can be from 1 inch (25 mm) to 10 feet (3.0 m) thick. The permafrost layer

2856-446: Is thawing. It is estimated that with an additional 1-2 degree warming, most of Denali's permafrost will thaw. Permafrost thaw causes landslides as the ice-rich soil transforms into mud slurry. Landslides have previously impacted accessibility in Denali by obstructing the roads in the park. Permafrost thaw releases additional carbon into the atmosphere. Shallow ponds in Denali are known as thaw lakes and cave-in lakes that are formed when

2975-480: Is the reconstructed ancestor of the Athabaskan languages. 1967 Mount McKinley disaster The 1967 Mount McKinley disaster occurred in July 1967 when seven climbers died on Denali (then still officially known as Mount McKinley) while attempting to descend from the summit in a severe blizzard estimated to be the worst to occur on the mountain in 100 years. The accident is the deadliest to occur on Denali and

3094-476: Is the main location to arrange a bus trip into the park or reserve/check-in for a campground site. All shuttle buses depart from here, as do some tours. The Denali Visitor Center is at mile marker 1.5 on the park road and is the main source of visitor information. Most ranger-led programs begin at the Denali Visitor Center. Other features include an exhibit hall. Within a short walking distance from

3213-503: Is usually done between them and the reconstructed Proto-Athabaskan language. This resembles both Tlingit and Eyak much more than most of the daughter languages in the Athabaskan family. Although Ethnologue still gives the Athabaskan family as a relative of Haida in their definition of the Na-Dene family, linguists who work actively on Athabaskan languages discount this position. The Alaska Native Language Center , for example, takes

3332-498: Is why it is placed in its own subgroup in the Rice–Goddard–Mithun classification. For detailed lists including languages, dialects, and subdialects, see the respective articles on the three major groups: Northern Athabaskan , Pacific Coast Athabaskan , Southern Athabaskan . For the remainder of this article, the conventional three-way geographic grouping will be followed except as noted. The Northern Athabaskan languages are

3451-557: The Denali Highway opened; park attendance greatly expanded: there were 5,000 visitors in 1956 and 25,000 visitors by 1958. In 1971, the George Parks Highway , under piecemeal construction for several years, was completed, providing direct highway connections to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Visitation doubled to 88,000 from 1971 to 1972. In 1967, the park was the site of one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents in

3570-467: The Harper Icefall that lies between the two camps. The next day, the search party ascended farther up the mountain and found the remains of two more climbers at the base of Archdeacon's Tower. The bodies had not decomposed and were found sitting upright in a position that appeared to be bracing themselves against the wind. With the bodies badly frozen, these remains were also never identified. In

3689-462: The Köppen climate classification , Denali National Park has a subarctic climate ( Dfc ). The plant hardiness zone at Denali Visitor Center is 3a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of −38.9 °F (−39.4 °C). Long winters are followed by short growing seasons. Eighty percent of the bird population returns after cold months, raising their young. Most mammals and other wildlife in

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3808-489: The Mesozoic era . The rock types include marble, chert , limestone, shale , and sandstone . There are intrusions of igneous rocks, such as gabbro , diabase , and diorite . Special features include pillow basalts , which are formed when molten lava flows into water and a hard outer crust forms, making a puffy, pillow-shaped feature; as well as an ophiolite sequence, which is a distinct sequence of rocks indicating that

3927-535: The National Park website for specific details. Savage River, Eielson Visitor Center, and Wonder Lake offer maintained hiking trails, and at Riley Creek, there are several maintained trails including a hike up to Mt. Healy Overlook trail. The park also encourages off-trail hiking. The Denali Wilderness is a wilderness area within Denali National Park that protects the higher elevations of

4046-709: The Pacific Plate is subducting under the North American Plate , creating the Denali Fault system, which is a right-lateral strike-slip fault over 720 miles (1,160 km) long. This is a part of the larger fault system which includes the famous San Andreas Fault of California. Over 600 earthquakes occur in the park each year, helping seismologists to understand this fault system. Most of these earthquakes are too small to be felt, although two large earthquakes did occur in 2002. On October 23, 2002,

4165-460: The Paleozoic era (250-500 million years old). The sediments that make up these rocks were deposited in a variety of marine environments, ranging from deep ocean basins to continental shelf areas. The abundant marine fossils are evidence that around 380 million years ago, this area had a warm, tropical climate. The Pingston, McKinley, and Chulitna terranes are the next oldest; they were deposited in

4284-653: The Athabaskan family into three groups, based on geographic distribution: The 32 Northern Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of Alaska and the interior of northwestern Canada in the Yukon and Northwest Territories , as well as in the provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan and Manitoba . Five Athabaskan languages are official languages in the Northwest Territories, including Chipewyan ( Dënesųłıné ), Dogrib or Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì , Gwich'in (Kutchin, Loucheux), and

4403-871: The Beautiful Quarters series, which honors Denali National Park. The coin's reverse side features a Dall sheep with Denali in the background. In September 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Denali National Park Improvement Act into law. The statute allows the United States Department of the Interior to "issue permits for microhydroelectric projects in the Kantishna Hills area of the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska"; it authorizes

4522-672: The Boone and Crockett Club and, on December 15, 1915, it was unanimously accepted. The plan was thereupon endorsed by the club and presented to Stephen Mather , Assistant Secretary of the Interior in Washington, D.C., who immediately approved it. The bill was introduced in April 1916, by Delegate Wickersham in the House and by Senator Key Pittman of Nevada in the Senate. Much lobbying took place

4641-839: The Denali Backcountry Lodge, Kantishna Roadhouse, Skyline Lodge, Camp Denali, and North Face Lodge. Visitors can bypass the six-hour bus ride and charter an air taxi flight to the Kantishna Airport . The Kantishna resorts have no TVs, and there is no cell phone service in the area. Lodging with services can be found in McKinley Park , one mile north of the park entrance on the George Parks Highway. Many hotels, restaurants, gift shops, and convenience stores are located in Denali Park. While

4760-634: The Department of the Interior and a company called Doyon Tourism, Inc. to exchange some land in the area; it authorizes the National Park Service (NPS) to "issue permits to construct a natural gas pipeline in the Denali National Park"; and it renames the existing Talkeetna Ranger Station the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station. The National Parks Conservation Association supported the bill because

4879-676: The Kantishna and Wyoming Hills. The George Parks Highway runs along the eastern edge of the park, crossing the Alaska Range at the divide between the valleys of the Chultina River and the Nenana River . The entrance to the park is about 11 mi (18 km) south of Healy . The Denali Visitor Center and the park headquarters are located just inside the entrance. The park road parallels the Alaska Range for 92 mi (148 km), ending at Kantishna. Preserve lands are located on

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4998-740: The Northern and Southern variants of Slavey . The seven or more Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages are spoken in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These include Applegate, Galice, several Rogue River area languages, Upper Coquille, Tolowa, and Upper Umpqua in Oregon ; Eel River, Hupa, Mattole–Bear River, and Tolowa in northern California ; and possibly Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie in Washington . The seven Southern Athabaskan languages are isolated by considerable distance from both

5117-684: The Northern group – has been called a "cohesive complex" by Michael Krauss (1973, 1982). Therefore, the Stammbaumtheorie or family tree model of genetic classification may be inappropriate. The languages of the Southern branch are much more homogeneous and are the only clearly genealogical subgrouping. Debate continues as to whether the Pacific Coast languages form a valid genealogical grouping, or whether this group may instead have internal branches that are tied to different subgroups in Northern Athabaskan. The position of Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai

5236-460: The Pacific Coast grouping, but a recent consideration by Krauss (2005) does not find it very similar to these languages. A different classification by Jeff Leer is the following, usually called the "Leer classification" (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:72–74): Neither subgrouping has found any significant support among other Athabaskanists. Details of the Athabaskan family tree should be regarded as tentative. As Tuttle and Hargus put it, "we do not consider

5355-593: The Pacific Coast languages and the Northern languages. Reflecting an ancient migration of peoples, they are spoken by Native Americans in the American Southwest and the northwestern part of Mexico . This group comprises the six Southern Athabaskan languages and Navajo. The following list gives the Athabaskan languages organized by their geographic location in various North American states, provinces and territories (including some languages that are now extinct). Several languages, such as Navajo and Gwich'in, span

5474-667: The Park Service's mandated four-person minimum, Snyder agreed to join Wilcox's expedition. It was now a 12-member team attempting to climb the mountain. The Park Service approved the expedition's application to climb, with caveats that team members purchase and carry radios with them on the climb, that the experienced climbers of the Colorado group had to stay with the less experienced climbers of Wilcox's group, and that less experienced climbers had to take training courses to prepare for

5593-676: The Purkeypile Airport, which is just outside the park boundary. Visitors who want to climb Denali need to obtain a climbing permit first and go through an orientation as well. These can be found at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station in Talkeetna, Alaska , about 100 mi (160 km) south of the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve. This center serves as the center of mountaineering operations. Hours of operation vary, check

5712-506: The Toklat River or Kantishna. Several portions of the road run alongside sheer cliffs that drop hundreds of feet at the edges. There are no guardrails. As a result of the danger involved, and because most of the gravel road is only one lane wide, drivers must be trained in procedures for navigating the sharp mountain curves and yielding the right-of-way to opposing buses and park vehicles. There are four camping areas located within

5831-481: The United States with the Mount McKinley disaster , where seven climbers died in an intense blizzard on Denali. The Park Service debated closing the mountain to climbing in the wake of the accident, but ultimately it remained open. The park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. A surrounding Denali National Monument was proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978, which

5950-593: The Visitor Center are a restaurant, a bookstore, the Murie Science and Learning Center , the Denali National Park railroad depot, and the McKinley National Park Airport . The Denali Park Road runs north of and roughly parallel to the imposing Alaska Range . Only a small fraction of the road is paved because permafrost and the freeze-thaw cycle would create a high cost for maintaining a paved road. The first 15 mi (24 km) of

6069-614: The Wonder Lake ranger station, which dispatched a helicopter to base camp to rescue the remaining survivors. On July 28, the MCA members searching for the missing seven climbers reached the remnants of the Wilcox Expedition's high camp. There they found the remains of one of the climbers clutching a tent pole, having likely frozen to death in this position. The body had already started decomposing , as an exposed hand had appeared to have thawed and refrozen several times over

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6188-538: The accident fell more to the group that died for failure to make use of several days of good weather to push for the summit and for continuing to ascend despite the onset of bad weather. In the years following the accident, multiple books were written detailing the ill-fated climb. Snyder and Wilcox both published books from person experiences: In the Hall of the Mountain King: The True Story of

6307-507: The area for thousands of years before then. The principal groups in the park area in the last 500 years include the Koyukon , Tanana and Dena'ina people . In 1906, conservationist Charles Alexander Sheldon conceived the idea of preserving the Denali region as a national park. He presented the plan to his co-members of the Boone and Crockett Club . They decided that the political climate at

6426-647: The area of the hotel and railroad. On Thanksgiving Day in 1921, the Mount McKinley Park Hotel opened. In July 1923, President Warren Harding stopped at the hotel, on a tour of the length of the Alaska Railroad , during which he drove a golden spike signaling its completion at Nenana . The hotel was the first thing visitors saw stepping down from the train. The flat-roofed, two-story log building featured exposed balconies, glass windows, and electric lights. Inside were two dozen guest rooms,

6545-566: The area, creating a severe storm directly over the mountain. Initial estimates placed wind speeds in the range of 100 to 150 mph (160 to 240 km/h). Later models created by the National Weather Service indicated that winds near the summit were likely significantly stronger, approaching speeds of nearly 300 mph (480 km/h). Wilcox, in his book White Winds: America's Most Tragic Climb, published in 1981, concluded, based on lowland weather data collected, that

6664-563: The area. The oldest site within park boundaries is the Teklanika River site, dated to about 7130 BC. More than 84 archaeological sites have been documented within the park. The sites are typically characterized as hunting camps rather than settlements and provide little cultural context. The presence of Athabaskan peoples in the region is dated to 1,500 - 1,000 years before present on linguistic and archaeological evidence, while researchers have proposed that Athabaskans may have inhabited

6783-419: The awful weather conditions and poor tactical decisions by the climbers. After the disaster, the Park Service considered closing Denali to further climbing attempts, but ultimately decided against doing this. Joe Wilcox came under heavy criticism as the leader of the expedition. Claims that he lacked effectiveness as a leader combined with his inexperience in high altitude settings led to him receiving much of

6902-564: The blame for the deaths that occurred. Wilcox initially accepted that fault for the accident did fall to him. Later studies conducted by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that the storm conditions on the upper slopes of the mountain were not survivable by any person, thus absolving Wilcox. Snyder and Schlichter later came to the conclusion that fault for

7021-403: The bottom of the glacier and the bedrock channel floating on the ice (due to hydrostatic pressure). At the upper ends of Denali's glaciers are steep-walled semicircular basins called cirques . Cirques form from freeze-thaw cycles of meltwater in the rocks above the glacier and glacial erosion and mass wasting occur under the glacier. As cirques on the opposite sides of a ridge are cut deeper into

7140-452: The boundaries: these languages are repeated by location in this list. For alternative names for the languages, see the classifications given later in this article. Eyak and Athabaskan together form a genealogical linguistic grouping called Athabaskan–Eyak (AE) – well- demonstrated through consistent sound correspondences , extensive shared vocabulary, and cross-linguistically unique homologies in both verb and noun morphology . Tlingit

7259-587: The bus where his remains were found has become a shrine attracting people from around the world. On September 24, 2020, the Museum of The North at the University of Alaska ( Fairbanks ) announced it became the permanent home of McCandless' 'Magic Bus 142' where it will be restored and an outdoor exhibit will be created. On November 5, 2012, the United States Mint released the 15th of its America

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7378-432: The central Alaska Range , including Denali . The wilderness comprises about one-third of the current national park and preserve—2,146,580 acres (3,354 sq mi; 8,687 km) that correspond with the former park boundaries before 1980. Denali National Park and Preserve is located in the central area of the Alaska Range, a mountain chain extending 600 miles (970 km) across Alaska. Its best-known geologic feature

7497-411: The climbers had reached the summit - himself, Taylor, Luchterhand, McLaughlin, and Janes. Russell had not made it to the summit and it was assumed he had turned back in the poor conditions in an attempt to return to the high camp. Clark also reported that the weather was still poor, with high winds and whiteout conditions. Clark stated the team intended to descend from the summit five to ten minutes after

7616-460: The climbers made good progress up the mountain and by July 13 had established a camp at 15,000 feet (4,600 m). At this point, some reports indicate Park Service Rangers contacted the team to inform them of a large storm developing that was projected to hit the mountain somewhere from July 16 to 17. Wilcox, however, claimed that no advanced notice of a potential storm was communicated to the team. Regardless of this potential discrepancy, weather

7735-412: The divide, they form a narrow, sharp, serrated ridge called an arête . As the arête wears away from glacial ice erosion, the low point between cirques is called a col (or if it is large a pass). Cols are saddle-shaped depressions in the ridge between cirques. A spire-like sharp peak, the horn , forms when cirques cut back into a mountaintop from three or four sides. Glaciers deposit rock fragments, but

7854-402: The following classification for the Athabaskan languages based exclusively on typological (non-lexical) data. However, this phylogenetic study was criticized as methodologically flawed by Yanovich (2020), since it did not employ sufficient input data to generate a robust tree that does not depend on the initial choice of the "tree prior", i.e. the model for the tree generation. Proto-Athabaskan

7973-414: The following year, and on February 19, 1917, the bill passed. On February 26, 1917, 11 years from its conception, the bill was signed in legislation by the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson , thereby creating Mount McKinley National Park. A portion of Denali, excluding the summit, was included in the original park boundary. The boundary was expanded in 1922 and again in 1932 and 1947 to include

8092-461: The high camp to look for the missing team members, but with weather conditions still poor, the trio made little progress and were forced to turn back at roughly 11:00 a.m. After returning to camp, there was a brief break in the weather, allowing for a view up the mountain. No signs of the missing climbers were visible, prompting an emergency call to the Park Service. Weather conditions deteriorated again that evening, preventing rescue efforts until

8211-432: The high elevation and rugged terrain they would be experiencing. The climbers began their ascent of the mountain on June 22. The expedition climbed the mountain from the north via the Karsten's Ridge route across the Muldrow Glacier , a less-expensive route up the mountain but more remote and much less used than the standard West Buttress route. Despite most men in the team suffering from some level of altitude sickness ,

8330-663: The ice as the glaciers move downslope. Lateral moraines are created as debris accumulates as low ridges of till that ride along the edge of the moving glaciers. When lateral moraines adjacent to each other join, they create medial moraines, which are also carried down on the surface of the moving ice. Braided meltwater streams heavily loaded with rock debris continually shift and intertwine their channels over valley floors. Valley trains are built up as streams drop quantities of poorly sorted sediment. Valley trains are long, narrow accumulations of glacial outwash, confined by valley walls. Kettles are formed when glacial retreat and melting

8449-406: The interior of the park (Sanctuary River, Teklanika River, Igloo Creek, and Wonder Lake ). Camper buses provide transportation to these campgrounds, but only passengers camping in the park can use these particular buses. At mile marker 53 on road is the Toklat River Contact Station. All shuttle and tour buses make a stop at Toklat River. The contact station features restrooms, visitor information, and

8568-513: The largest group in the Athabaskan family, although this group varies internally about as much as do languages in the entire family. The urheimat of the Athabaskan family is most likely in the Tanana Valley of east-central Alaska. There are many homologies between Proto-Athabaskan vocabulary and patterns reflected in archaeological sites such as Upward Sun, Swan Point and Broken Mammoth (Kari 2010). The Northern Athabaskan group also contains

8687-569: The legislation "takes a thoughtful approach to protecting roadless Alaska, promoting renewable energy development, and honoring native Alaskans." Denali National Park and Preserve includes the central, highest portion of the Alaska Range , together with many of the glaciers and glacial valleys running southwards out of the range. To the north the park and preserve encompass the valleys of the McKinley , Toklat , and Foraker Rivers, as well as

8806-470: The main park road goes straight through the middle of the Denali Wilderness, the national preserve and portions of the park not designated wilderness are even more inaccessible. No roads are extending out to the preserve areas, which are on the northwest and southwest ends of the park. The far north of the park, characterized by hills and rivers, is accessed from the east by the Stampede Trail ,

8925-499: The missing climbers, published Should I Not Return: The Most Controversial Tragedy in the History of North American Mountaineering!, detailing his group's expedition and his perspective on the disaster. In 2014, Andy Hall, the son of the park superintendent at the time of the accident, published his book Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak, which includes interviews with both Wilcox and Snyder about

9044-447: The most linguistically conservative languages, particularly Koyukon, Ahtna, Dena'ina, and Dakelh/Carrier (Leer 2008). Very little is known about Tsetsaut, and for this reason it is routinely placed in its own tentative subgroup. The Nicola language is so poorly attested that it is impossible to determine its position within the family. It has been proposed by some to be an isolated branch of Chilcotin. The Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie language

9163-518: The most notable of the depositions are the erratics , which are large rock fragments carried some distance from the source, found on glacial terraces and ridge tops in many places throughout Denali. Headquarter erratics are made of granite and can be the size of a house. Some erratics (like those from the Yanert Valley) are located 30 miles (48 km) away from their original location. Large amounts of rock debris are carried on, in, and beneath

9282-543: The mountain to Denali. However, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names did not recognize the change and continued to denote the official name as Mount McKinley. This situation lasted until August 30, 2015, when President Barack Obama directed Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to rename the mountain to Denali, using statutory authority to act on requests when the Board of Geographic Names does not do so in

9401-416: The mountain to find and bury all seven bodies. By this point, the remains found by the MCA members the previous year had disappeared and none of the seven climbers' remains were ever recovered. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Bradford Washburn , one of the most well-known American mountaineering experts of the time, called the accident "U.S. mountaineering's worst disaster" and the result of both

9520-430: The mountain was met with skepticism from the National Park Service at Mount McKinley National Park due to the climbers' inexperience in high altitude. While all members of the team were familiar with basic mountaineering practices, none had ascended a peak higher than 15,000 feet (4,600 m), while Denali's summit is at 20,310 feet (6,190 m). As such, park rangers recommended that the Wilcox Expedition merge with

9639-440: The mountain, forcing all 12 team members to remain at the high camp for the day. On July 17, the winds died down, and the team prepared to move. Seven members of the expedition - Clark, S. Taylor, W. Taylor, Luchterhand, McLaughlin, Janes, and Russell - would climb to the summit that day, while the four who had summited on the 15th climbed back down to the camp at 15,000 feet. Anshel Schiff also chose to descend despite not reaching

9758-507: The name Mount McKinley after President Wilson signed the bill creating Mount McKinley National Park into effect in 1917. In 1980, Mount McKinley National Park was combined with Denali National Monument, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act named the combined unit the Denali National Park and Preserve. At that time the Alaska state Board of Geographic Names changed the name of

9877-609: The north side of the Alaska Range (70 bears per 1,000 square miles) and an estimated 2,700 black bears (334 per 1,000 square miles). As of 2014, park biologists were monitoring about 51 wolves in 13 packs (7.4 wolves per 1,000 square miles), while surveys estimated 2,230 caribou in 2013, and 1,477 moose in 2011. Dall sheep are often seen on mountainsides. Smaller animals such as coyotes , hoary marmots , shrews , Arctic ground squirrels , beavers , pikas , and snowshoe hares are seen in abundance. Red and Arctic fox species, martens , Canada lynx , and wolverines also inhabit

9996-435: The north side. This brings a drier climate and huge temperature fluctuations to the north. The south has transitional maritime continental climates, with moister, cooler summers, and warmer winters. The Alaska Range is a mountainous expanse running through the entire park, strongly influencing the park's ecosystems. Vegetation in the park depends on the altitude. The treeline is at 2,500 ft (760 m), causing most of

10115-479: The ordeal, while Wilcox and Snyder began suffering numbness in their toes and fingers, but were in relatively better shape. On July 23, weather conditions finally improved, and the five men began descending to a camp at 12,100 feet (3,700 m). As they neared the camp, they received assistance and much needed food from climbers representing the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA), who had weathered

10234-512: The original name of the lake." The four spellings— Athabaskan , Athabascan , Athapaskan , and Athapascan —are in approximately equal use. Particular communities may prefer one spelling over another (Krauss 1987). For example, the Tanana Chiefs Conference and Alaska Native Language Center prefer the spelling Athabascan . Ethnologue uses Athapaskan in naming the language family and individual languages. Although

10353-552: The park are losing about 6.6 ft (2 m) of vertical water equivalency each year. There are more extensive glaciers on the southeastern side of the range because more snow is dropped on this side from the moisture-bearing winds from the Gulf of Alaska . The 5 largest south-facing glaciers are Yentna (20 miles (32 km) long), Kahiltna (30 miles (48 km)), Tokositna (23 miles (37 km)), Ruth (31 miles (50 km)), and Eldrige (30 miles (48 km)). The Ruth glacier

10472-537: The park are part of the Yukon-Tanana terrane . They originated from ocean sediments deposited between 400 million and 1 billion years ago. The original rocks have been affected by the processes of regional metamorphism, folding, and faulting to form rocks such as schist , quartzite , phyllite , slate , marble , and limestone . The next oldest group of rocks is the Farewell terrane. It is composed of rocks from

10591-490: The park because large portions of these communities historically hunted in the area for subsistence purposes. The park is serviced by the 92 mi (148 km) long Denali Park Road, which begins at the George Parks Highway and continues to the west, ending at Kantishna . Located 1 mi (1.6 km) within the park, the Denali Bus Depot (which houses a small gift shop, a coffee stand, and an information desk)

10710-479: The park but are more rarely seen due to their elusive natures. Athabaskan languages Athabaskan ( / ˌ æ θ ə ˈ b æ s k ən / ATH -ə- BASK -ən ; also spelled Athabascan , Athapaskan or Athapascan , and also known as Dene ) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America , located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern (or Apachean ). Kari and Potter (2010:10) place

10829-502: The park road) may drive their personal vehicles or RV to and from the campground. The road has been impacted by the Pretty Rocks landslide at Polychrome Pass at Mile 45.4. NPS believes the landslide has been active since before the road was built, but only required moderate maintenance every 2–3 years. Beginning in 2014, the landslide accelerated considerably, requiring the road crew to spread 100 truckloads of gravel per week to keep

10948-540: The park spend the brief summer months preparing for winter and raising their young. Summers are usually cool and damp, but temperatures in the 70s are not rare. The weather is so unpredictable that there have even been instances of snow in August. The north and south side of the Alaskan Range have completely different climates. The Gulf of Alaska carries moisture to the south side, but the mountains block water to

11067-445: The park to be a vast expanse of tundra . In the lowland areas of the park, such as the western sections surrounding Wonder Lake, spruces and willows dominate the forest. Most trees and shrubs do not reach full size, due to unfavorable climate and thin soils. There are three types of forest in the park: from lowest to highest, they are low brush bog, bottomland spruce-poplar forest, and upland spruce-hardwood forest. The forest grows in

11186-613: The park. Mesozoic fossils include fossil trackways from therizinosaurids and hadrosaurids in the Cantwell Formation indicate the area was once an immigration point for dinosaurs traveling between Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period. Studies of fossil plants from the same formation indicate the area was wet, with marshes and ponds throughout the region. Denali National Park and Preserve are located in an area of intense tectonic activity:

11305-422: The points of difference between the two models ... to be decisively settled and in fact expect them to be debated for some time to come." (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:74) The Northern group is particularly problematic in its internal organization. Due to the failure of the usual criteria of shared innovation and systematic phonetic correspondences to provide well-defined subgroupings, the Athabaskan family – especially

11424-590: The position that recent improved data on Haida have served to conclusively disprove the Haida-inclusion hypothesis. Haida has been determined to be unrelated to Athabaskan languages. A symposium in Alaska in February 2008 included papers on the Yeniseian and Na-Dené families. Edward Vajda of Western Washington University summarized ten years of research, based on verbal morphology and reconstructions of

11543-472: The preceding days. This body was assumed to be that of Steve Taylor, who had remained at camp during the other climbers' ascent. However, with the poor condition of the remains, a positive identification was not made, and this assumption remains only speculation. Howard Snyder later theorized this body may have been that of John Russell, and that Taylor had died attempting to descend to 15,000 feet, as evidenced by Taylor's ice axe and sleeping bag being found near

11662-527: The proto-languages, indicating that these languages might be related. The internal structure of the Athabaskan language family is complex, and its exact shape is still a hotly debated issue among experts. The conventional three-way split into Northern, Pacific Coast, and Southern is essentially based on geography and the physical distribution of Athabaskan peoples rather than sound linguistic comparisons. Despite this inadequacy, current comparative Athabaskan literature demonstrates that most Athabaskanists still use

11781-478: The purpose to introduce a suitable bill in the coming session of Congress. The matter was then taken to the Game Committee of the Boone and Crockett Club and, after a full discussion, it received the committee's full endorsement. On December 3, 1915, the plan was presented to Alaska's delegate, James Wickersham , who after some deliberation gave his approval. The plan then went to the executive committee of

11900-424: The radio call and that they would radio again at 8:00 p.m. after returning to their high camp. This transmission from the summit was the last contact with any of the team members who had ascended on the 17th. Shortly after radio contact ended, the severity of the storm increased dramatically. A low pressure area from the north, bringing moisture and humidity, met with the high pressure area that had been in

12019-699: The road are available to private vehicles, allowing easy access to the Riley Creek and Savage River campgrounds. Private vehicle access is prohibited beyond the Savage River Bridge. There is a turnaround for motorists at this point, as well as a nearby parking area for those who wish to hike the Savage River Loop Trail. Beyond this point, visitors must access the interior of the park through tour/shuttle buses. Individuals wishing to camp at Teklanika Campground (located 29 miles inside

12138-426: The road passable until August 2021, when the park decided to close the road beyond Mile 45 until 2023 at the earliest. After studying potential solutions including re-routing the road, park officials decided to construct a bridge over the landslide which will cost $ 55 million and is expected to begin in 2022 and take two or three seasons to complete. The tours travel from the initial boreal forests through tundra to

12257-443: The storm at the lower elevation. The next day, the members of the MCA split up, with one member climbing down with the survivors to ensure they safely returned to base camp, while the remainder began their ascent of the mountain to search for the missing seven still on the high slopes. The five survivors of The Wilcox Expedition (Snyder's group, Wilcox and Schiff) reached base camp on July 25. Wilcox then crossed Wonder Lake to reach

12376-420: The storm cleared. The storm continued on the mountain for two more days. During this time, the five men at 15,000 feet came into strife themselves. They abandoned one of their tents and all stayed in one three-person tent to keep warm from their body heat. With no room to operate their stove in the cramped space, they were only able to eat foods that did not require cooking. Lewis and Schiff became very weak from

12495-418: The summit at roughly 6:30 p.m. Schlichter described near-perfect weather conditions at the summit, with exceptional views, low wind, and temperatures at roughly 6 °F (−14 °C). After spending about an hour and a half at the summit, the group descended and returned to the high camp at about 9:50 p.m. The next day, July 16, strong winds at approximately 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) buffeted

12614-421: The summit due to worsening effects of altitude sickness. Wilcox's group began descending at roughly 1:00 p.m., but Clark's group headed for the summit did not start until an unknown time after 2:00 p.m., an unexpectedly late start. Additionally, Steve Taylor, who had also been suffering badly from altitude sickness, elected not to climb and instead remain at the high camp. At 8:00 p.m. that night,

12733-539: The term Athabaskan is prevalent in linguistics and anthropology, there is an increasing trend among scholars to use the terms Dené and Dené languages , which is how many of their native speakers identify it. They are applying these terms to the entire language family. For example, following a motion by attendees in 2012, the annual Athabaskan Languages Conference changed its name to the Dené Languages Conference. Linguists conventionally divide

12852-461: The three-way geographic grouping rather than any of the proposed linguistic groupings given below, because none of them has been widely accepted. This situation will presumably change as both documentation and analysis of the languages improves. Besides the traditional geographic grouping described previously, there are a few comparatively based subgroupings of the Athabaskan languages. Below the two most current viewpoints are presented. The following

12971-601: The time was unfavorable for congressional action and that the best hope of success rested on the approval and support of the Alaskans themselves. Sheldon wrote, "The first step was to secure the approval and cooperation of the delegate who represented Alaska in Congress." In October 1915, Sheldon took up the matter with E. W. Nelson of the Biological Survey at Washington, D.C., and with George Bird Grinnell , with

13090-534: The total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at 4,022,000 square kilometres (1,553,000 sq mi). Chipewyan is spoken over the largest area of any North American native language, while Navajo is spoken by the largest number of people of any native language north of Mexico. The word Athabaskan is an anglicized version of a Cree language name for Lake Athabasca ( Moose Cree : Āðapāskāw '[where] there are reeds one after another') in Canada . Cree

13209-431: The tundra and provide the bears of Denali with the main part of their diet. Over 450 species of flowering plants fill the park and can be viewed in bloom throughout summer. Images of goldenrod , fireweed , bluebell , and gentian filling the valleys of Denali are often used on postcards and in the artwork. Denali is home to a variety of North American birds and mammals, including an estimated 300-350 grizzly bears on

13328-503: The water warmed by the sun forms basins in the underlying permafrost. These ponds deepen gradually during the summer and, if the temperature is high enough, they will grow in size as their rims collapse. Thermal expansion and contraction causes permafrost cracking. In the summer water fills these cracks and forms veins called ice wedges . These wedges enlarge with seasonal freezing/thawing cycles. Some ice wedges buried for centuries are revealed during excavations or landslides. According to

13447-438: The weather the seven climbers still on the high slopes on Denali faced may have been the worst conditions experienced by any mountaineers on record. After two days of the storm and no further contact with climbers near the summit, the five who had descended to the camp at 15,000 feet became concerned about the condition of the rest of the team. On the morning of July 20, Wilcox, Snyder, and Schlichter attempted to climb back up to

13566-528: The west side of the park, with one parcel encompassing areas of lakes in the Highpower Creek and Muddy River areas, and the second preserve area covering the southwest end of the high Alaska Range around Mount Dall . In contrast to the park, where hunting is prohibited or restricted to subsistence hunting by local residents, sport hunting is allowed in the preserve lands. Nikolai, Telida, Lake Minchumina, and Cantwell residents are authorized to hunt inside

13685-639: Was at the time one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents in history. The expedition to climb Denali was organized by Joe Wilcox, a 24-year old graduate student at Brigham Young University . To attract climbers to join the expedition, Wilcox mailed out newsletters and advertised a joining fee of $ 300 to cover food and gear expenses. Wilcox managed to sign on eight men to join his expedition: Jerry Clark (age 31), Steve Taylor (age 22), Dennis Luchterhand (age 24), Mark McLaughlin (age 23), Anshel Schiff (age 30), Hank Janes (age 25), John Russell (age 23), and Walt Taylor (age 24). The expedition's application to climb

13804-417: Was combined with the park in 1980. The name of Mount McKinley National Park was subject to local criticism from the beginning of the park. The word Denali means "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself. The mountain was named after newly elected US president William McKinley in 1897 by local prospector William A. Dickey. The United States government formally adopted

13923-440: Was established by 7:00 p.m. that evening. On July 15, four members of the team set out from the high camp for the summit at noon - Wilcox, Snyder, Lewis, and Schlichter. The remaining members who had climbed the previous day remained at the high camp to rest, while the four members at the previous camp ascended to the high camp. Except for occasional stops to allow Lewis to rest, the team of four made good progress and reached

14042-404: Was projected to be clear for the next few days and so the expedition continued on. The next day, eight members of the team moved higher up the mountain to establish their final camp at 18,000 feet (5,500 m), with the intent of pushing for the summit on the 15th. The start of this climb was delayed when a malfunctioning stove caused one of the expedition's tents to catch fire, but the high camp

14161-404: Was solidly frozen. The northern areas of the range are still frozen due to continued cold temperatures. About 75% of Denali had near-surface permafrost, or an active permafrost layer, in the 1950s. In the 2000s, around 50% of Denali had near-surface permafrost. It is suspected that by the 2050s, only about 6% of surface permafrost will remain. Because of climate change, most of the shallow permafrost

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