10,000 years a mountain: why Denali should keep its name

We take a look at the latest controversy surrounding Denali’s name and why it has inspired so much debate over the years

The high point of my year was (literally) my summit of Denali, the highest peak in North America. It was my fourth mountain of the seven summits – arguably my fifth if you count Kosciuszko – leaving me Vinson in Antarctica and Everest in Asia. I said at the time that whether or not I climb any more of the seven is almost irrelevant. I will always have Denali, my ‘tall one’.

Denali has been in the news recently, not because of any mountaineering feat but because President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to rename the mountain after William McKinley, the 25th US president who was assassinated in 1901.

This is, of course, not the first time a mountain’s name has caused controversy. With that in mind, we take a look at the latest war of words surrounding Denali and just why its name has inspired so much debate.

Denali: The tall one

At 6,190m (20,310ft), Denali in Alaska, USA, is the third highest mountain of the seven summits. The name Denali comes from Koyukon, a traditional Native Alaskan Athabascan language, and means ‘the tall one’. The name had been used for generations until 1896 when a gold prospector began referring to the mountain as Mt McKinley after William McKinley, a presidential candidate at the time.

In 1917, Congress formally recognised the name Mt McKinley even though McKinley had never visited Alaska. In 1975, the state of Alaska designated Denali as the peak’s name and pressed the federal government to do the same. However, the motion was blocked by the Ohio congressional delegation (representing former President McKinley’s home state). Denali was not adopted by the US Board on Geographic Names and McKinley remained on official maps.

After decades of petitioning by the Alaska Legislature, supported by many Alaskans, mountaineers and Alaska Natives, in 2015, President Obama officially changed the name back to Denali, noting that McKinley had no “significant historical connection to the mountain or to Alaska.”

The move was seen as an effort to preserve the Native American name, which had been dismissed or completely ignored by US mapmakers in the 1900s.

What did Trump say about Denali?

In December 2024, during a speech to supporters in Phoenix, President-elect Donald Trump said he would rename…