Alaska Range
 |
View of Denali, the centerpiece of the Alaska range, on a rare clear day |
The
Alaska Range is a 650-km-long (400 mi)
mountain range in the
southcentral region of the
U.S. state of
Alaska, from
Iliamna Lake at its southwest end to
White River in
Canada in the southeast. The highest mountain in
North America,
Mount McKinley (
Denali), is in the Alaska Range.
The range forms a generally east-west arc with its northernmost part in the center, and from there trending southwest towards the
Alaska Peninsula and the
Aleutians, and trending southeast into the
Pacific Coast Ranges. The mountains act as a high barrier to the flow of moist air from the
Gulf of Alaska northwards, and thus has some of the harshest weather in the world. The heavy snowfall also contributes to a number of large
glaciers.
The range is part of the
Pacific Ring of Fire, and the
Denali fault that runs along the southern edge of the range is responsible for a number of
earthquakes. However, there are no volcanoes in the range.
Part of the range is protected within
Denali National Park and Preserve. The
George Parks Highway from
Anchorage to
Fairbanks and the
Richardson Highway from
Valdez to Fairbanks pass through low parts of the range.
The name "Alaskan Range" appears to have been first applied to these mountains in 1869 by naturalist
W. H. Dall. The name eventually became "Alaska Range" through local use. In 1849
Constantin Grewingk applied the name "T schigmit" to this mountain range. A map made by the
General Land Office in 1869 calls the southwestern part of the Alaska Range the "Chigmit Mountains" and the northeastern part the "Beaver Mountains".
*
Mount McKinley (6,194 m/20,320 ft)
*
Mount Foraker (5,304 m/17,400 ft)
*
Mount Hunter (4,442 m/14,573 ft)
*
Mount Hayes (4,216 m/13,832 ft)
*
Mount Silverthrone (4,029 m/13,218 ft)
*
Mount Deborah (3,761 m/12,339 ft)
*
Mount Huntington (3,730 m/12,240 ft)
*
Revelation Mountains*
Kichatna Mountains* Central Alaska Range
* Eastern Alaska Range/
Hayes Range
* Delta Mountains
