Highest peak in North America to be surveyed

June 15, 2015

Mount McKinley, also known as Denali. Photo by Todd Paris.

Several researchers plan to update the height of Mount McKinley this summer by climbing it with a global positioning system device.

Tom Heinrichs, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will join three other team members to climb Denali for the new GPS survey. Heinrichs directs the Geographic Information Network of Alaska at UAF's Geophysical Institute and is an experienced climber.

He'll join three climbers from CompassData, a subcontractor for the national design and engineering firm Dewberry.

The company is working on a task awarded under the U.S. Geological Survey's Geospatial Products and Services Contract. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geodetic Survey also is supporting the survey.

The team's work will update the commonly accepted elevation of Mount McKinley’s peak, 20,320 ft. The last survey was completed in 1953. In 2012, new elevation data obtained with interferometric synthetic aperture radar estimated the mountain's height at 20,237 feet.

Using modern GPS survey equipment and techniques, along with better gravity data to improve the geoid model in Alaska, the partners in this summer's expedition will be able to report the summit elevation with a much higher level of confidence than has been possible in the past. The newly surveyed elevation could be published by the National Geodetic Survey in late August.

Photo courtesy of The Centennial Climb. The official U.S. Geological Survey marker rests on the summit of Denali in 2013, with climber Ken Karstens' foot for scale.

Heinrichs and the three climbers from CompassData will start the precarious trek to the summit in mid June. They plan to return on or before July 7 and begin work with UAF and the NGS processing the data to arrive at the new summit elevation.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Vicki Childers, NOAA NGS, 301-713-3211; Mark Newell, USGS, 573-308-3850.