Denali. Denali. Athabascan Denali Highest mountain in North America. Located near the centre of the Alaska Range in south-central Alaska, U.S., and in Denali National Park, it rises to 20,320 ft (6,194 m). The northern peak was first scaled in 1910, and in 1913 Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens ascended the southern peak, the true summit. It was named Densmores Peak in 1889 after a prospector but was renamed in 1896 in honour of Pres. William McKinley