JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A record number of climbers summited North America’s highest peak this season.
The National Park Service says 787 of the 1,151 registered climbers reached the summit of Mount McKinley in Alaska this year.
That’s a summit percentage of 68 percent, the highest since 1977, when the summit percentage was 79 percent. In 1977, 284 climbers reached the summit.
The number of climbers to reach the summit has topped 700 in only four other years.
A spokeswoman for Denali National Park and Preserve says good weather is the major factor in whether there’s a strong summit year. She says May and June saw “long stretches of warm temperatures, clear skies and mild winds.”
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of the mountain’s 20,320-foot south summit.
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Follow Becky Bohrer at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap .
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Online:
Denali National Park and Preserve: http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm
