Alaskan adventure. By plane to Denali.
“Denali – the Exalted One” – this name was given by the Koyukon-Athabascan indigenous people. Alaskans Denali, at 6.190 meters the highest mountain in North America, was and remains sacred to them. It lies approximately 300 kilometers below the Arctic Circle, halfway between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and is part of the 950-kilometer-long Alaska Range. Furthermore, Denali is one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
Denali – the shy giant
Nestled within the wilderness of Denali National Park, one of the world's largest protected ecosystems, Denali can only be reached on a multi-day expedition on foot or, more conveniently, as a day trip by plane. Even then, there's no guarantee of seeing the majestic mountain and its summit, as the "shy giant" likes to play hide-and-seek: the probability of experiencing Denali unobstructed by clouds is only 30%. Enterprising tourism managers in Alaska have even established a "Denali 30% Club" and sell souvenir items with this slogan, such as T-shirts and hoodies.
Fly Denali to the highest mountain in North America
We opted for a flight with the provider Fly Denali Based in Healy, a small town on the edge of the national park with a surprisingly large airfield. Then came the shock: the weather forecast for the booked flying day was bleak. Denali would have remained invisible.
Luckily, we had some leeway and were able to rebook for the following day, when an almost cloudless sky offered perfect visibility. The flight in a single-engine De Havilland Canada DHC-2T Turbine Beaver became an unforgettable experience. Thanks to the aircraft's high-wing design, we had a panoramic view of the Alaska Range – a seemingly endless world of rugged rocks, snow, and shimmering blue ice, crisscrossed by gigantic glacier tongues.
The highlight of the flight was the landing on a glacier in the icy mountain world of Denali – made possible by the hydraulically moved skids of the aircraft and the special equipment with STOL technology (Short Take-Off and Landing).
Denali versus Mount McKinley
As one of his first decisions in his second term, US President Donald Trump ordered in January 2025 that Denali be renamed Mount McKinley – the name used from 1917 to 2015, which commemorated William McKinley, US President from 1897 to 1901. The Alaska Senate and House of Representatives protested unsuccessfully, as did Alaska's Indigenous communities.
William McKinley, like Trump a staunch advocate of tariffs, was not from Alaska, but from the state of Ohio. He never set foot on Alaskan soil and had no other connection to the land or its people. The renaming ordered by Trump is therefore interpreted as a kind of revenge against Barack Obama, who, as US president in 2015, had decreed the historically legitimate name "Denali."
Advance notice: Exhibition “Adventure Alaska” at
Schleswig City Museum
An exhibition of photographs from the report will be on display from December 2, 2026 to January 31, 2027 at Schleswig City Museum as a project of Photo Clubs Schleswig e. v. be visible.
The exhibition is sponsored by CANUSA Tourism, the organizer of individual trips to Canada and the USA – our partner in the planning and execution of the company “Adventure Alaska”.
