Mountaineering
In 1897 Mount Saint Elias () on the Alaska-Yukon border was summitted by the Duke of the Abruzzi and party. But it was not until 1913 that Denali (), the tallest peak in North America, was successfully climbed by Hudson Stuck. Mount Logan (), the tallest peak in Canada was first summitted by a half dozen climbers in 1925 in an expedition that took more than two months.
In 1879-1880 the exploration of the highest Andes in South America began when English mountaineer Edward Whymper climbed Chimborazo () and explored the mountains of Ecuador. The Cordillera between Chile and Argentina was visited by Paul Güssfeldt in 1883, who ascended the volcano Maipo () and attempted to climb the tallest mountain in the Americas, Aconcagua () that same year but was unsuccessful. The summit of Aconcagua was finally reached on January 14, 1897 by Swiss mountaineer Matthias Zurbriggen during an expedition led by Edward FitzGerald that began in December 1896. The Andes of Bolivia were first explored by Sir William Martin Conway in 1898, who later visited the mountains of Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America.
Denali
Denali has a summit elevation of above sea level, making it the highest peak in North America and the northernmost mountain above 6,000 meters elevation in the world. Measured from base to peak at some , it is among the largest mountains situated entirely above sea level (although some Asian mountains i.e. Rakaposhi, Dhaulagiri and Nanga Parbat are even larger in this regard ). Denali rises from a sloping plain with elevations from , for a base-to-peak height of . By comparison, Mount Everest rises from the Tibetan Plateau at a much higher base elevation. Base elevations for Everest range from on the south side to on the Tibetan Plateau, for a base-to-peak height in the range of . Denali's base-to-peak height is little more than half the of the volcano Mauna Kea, which lies mostly under water.