The Fin

The Fin

Mountain climber looking at Mount Foraker over the horizon | Mohammed Ibrahim

🏔️ Overview

The Fin is a spectacular approximately 13,350-foot (4,069-meter) subsidiary summit on the remote southwest side of Mount Foraker in Alaska’s central Alaska Range. Rising within Denali National Park and Preserve, it forms one of the most distinctive obstacles along Mount Foraker’s immense Southwest Ridge.

The name is remarkably appropriate.

Seen from the surrounding glaciers, The Fin appears as a sharp, elevated blade of rock and ice projecting from the much larger Foraker massif. Its southern side drops thousands of feet toward the upper Yentna Glacier in a vast wall that remained essentially untouched until the 21st century.

Modern USGS contour mapping places the summit somewhere between 13,300 and 13,400 feet, with Peakbagger using 13,300+ feet. The frequently quoted 13,350-foot elevation is therefore a useful approximation rather than an exact surveyed height.

The Fin was named by members of the historic 1934 first-ascent expedition on Mount Foraker, who saw the striking feature from the west. Decades later, climbers discovered just how formidable it really was.

In 2007, Peter Doucette, Ben Gilmore, and Freddie Wilkinson completed the first ascent of the enormous Fin Wall on its south face. Their 3,800-foot technical route reached the summit ridge but, with bad weather closing in, they turned around roughly 400 vertical feet below the summit.

⚡ Fast Facts

Fact	Details
Continent	North America
Country	United States
State	Alaska
Borough	Denali Borough
Mountain Range	Alaska Range
Massif	Mount Foraker
Elevation	13,300–13,400 ft / 4,054–4,084 m
Common Approximation	13,350 ft / 4,069 m
Prominence	Approximately 500 ft / 152 m
Isolation	Approximately 1.13 mi / 1.82 km
Parent Peak	Mount Foraker
Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN)	Mount Foraker – Southwest Peak
Key Col	Approximately 12,800 ft / 3,901 m
Major Ridge	Mount Foraker Southwest Ridge
Major Face	Fin Wall / South Face
Fin Wall Height	Approximately 3,800 ft / 1,160 m
Fin Wall First Ascent	May 3–5, 2007
Fin Wall Climbers	Peter Doucette, Ben Gilmore, Freddie Wilkinson
Fin Wall Grade	AK Grade 6, NEI 5+
First Named	1934 Mount Foraker expedition
First Recorded Traverse	1977
Protected Area	Denali National Park and Preserve
Wilderness	Denali Wilderness

Because the summit lies inside a 100-foot closed contour, its precise elevation has not been established by a modern high-resolution summit survey. Mountain Field Guide uses approximately 13,350 feet while retaining the 13,300–13,400-foot range in the data.

📍 Where Is The Fin?

The Fin lies in the central Alaska Range on the enormous southwestern ridge system of Mount Foraker.

Mount Foraker rises to 17,400 feet (5,304 meters) northeast of The Fin.

The Fin is approximately four horizontal miles southwest of Foraker’s summit and forms a major obstacle on the mountain’s Southwest Ridge.

To its south and southwest lies the upper Yentna Glacier system.

Other glaciers surrounding the broader Foraker massif include:

Herron Glacier
Foraker Glacier
Lacuna Glacier
Kahiltna Glacier

Denali, the highest mountain in North America, rises farther northeast.

Mount Hunter stands southeast of the main Denali–Foraker complex.

The Fin therefore occupies one of the most spectacular concentrations of high mountains and glaciers in North America.

📏 Elevation: Why Do Sources Disagree?

The elevation of The Fin has changed substantially in published climbing accounts.

1934 Estimate

When members of the first Mount Foraker expedition saw and named the feature, they estimated its elevation at approximately 14,000 feet.

1977 Estimate

The American Alpine Journal account of the first successful Southwest Ridge climb described The Fin as approximately 13,800 feet.

Modern Mapping

Current Peakbagger data based on the USGS Talkeetna D-4 topographic map places the summit inside a 13,300- to 13,400-foot closed contour.

Peakbagger therefore lists:

13,300+ feet / 4,054+ meters

A commonly used midpoint is:

13,350 feet / 4,069 meters

That is the most useful elevation for general discussion, but it should not be presented as a precisely surveyed summit height.

📐 Prominence

Peakbagger gives The Fin approximately 500 feet (152 meters) of clean topographic prominence.

Its key col is approximately 12,800 feet (3,901 meters).

Because the USGS summit contour spans 100 vertical feet, optimistic prominence could be closer to 700 feet if both summit and saddle uncertainties fall at favorable ends of their ranges.

Using the conservative clean figure, 500 feet is the best value for Mountain Field Guide.

That amount of prominence is sufficient for The Fin to stand out as a recognizable subsidiary summit, but it remains clearly part of Mount Foraker rather than an independent major mountain.

🧭 Nearest Higher Neighbor: Mount Foraker – Southwest Peak

The Fin’s nearest higher neighbor is Mount Foraker – Southwest Peak, part of the Mount Foraker massif.

Peakbagger places higher terrain approximately 1.13 miles (1.82 kilometers) from The Fin.

Beyond that point, the Southwest Ridge eventually rises toward Mount Foraker’s much higher summit complex.

The main summit reaches 17,400 feet, more than 4,000 vertical feet above The Fin.

This relationship makes Mount Foraker both The Fin’s parent massif and the obvious dominant mountain of the surrounding landscape.

🏔️ Is The Fin a Separate Mountain?

The Fin is best described as a subsidiary summit of Mount Foraker.

It has its own:

Recognizable summit
Topographic prominence
Name
Climbing history
Major technical faces

However, it lies directly on Foraker’s Southwest Ridge and is ultimately connected to the much larger mountain.

The American Alpine Club has repeatedly described it as a prominent point, subpeak, or subsidiary summit of Foraker.

Its identity is therefore similar to that of many famous named features on enormous Alpine and Himalayan massifs: topographically subordinate, but significant enough in form and climbing history to deserve its own name.

🏷️ How The Fin Got Its Name

The Fin was named during the historic 1934 Mount Foraker expedition.

That expedition included Charles Houston, T. Graham Brown, Chychele Waterston, and several other participants.

The team approached Foraker from the west during an era before aircraft-supported glacier expeditions transformed Alaska Range climbing.

While reconnoitering the mountain, they observed the enormous southwest ridge.

A striking subsidiary summit interrupted the ridge.

Its narrow shape inspired the straightforward name:

The Fin.

T. Graham Brown’s contemporary account estimated the feature at approximately 14,000 feet and described it as a potentially difficult obstacle along the southwest approach.

The name endured even as later mapping reduced its estimated elevation.

🏔️ Part of Mount Foraker

The Fin cannot really be understood without Mount Foraker.

Foraker is the second-highest mountain in the Alaska Range, rising to 17,400 feet southwest of Denali.

It possesses an enormous and complicated architecture of ridges, buttresses, glaciers, and subsidiary summits.

The Southwest Ridge is particularly complex.

Rather than descending cleanly from the summit, it branches repeatedly into ribs and ridges separated by enormous glacier systems.

The Fin stands near the convergence of several of those subsidiary ridges.

For climbers attempting the full Southwest Ridge, it functions almost like a gatekeeper guarding access to Foraker’s upper mountain.

🧗 The Southwest Ridge

The Southwest Ridge of Mount Foraker is one of the mountain’s longest and most complicated routes.

The American Alpine Club described it as a maze of:

Ribs
Buttresses
Snow ridges
Couloirs
Glaciers
Major elevation losses and gains

Several expeditions attempted to solve the ridge before the first complete ascent.

No two early parties even chose exactly the same starting line.

Regardless of how climbers approached, however, the terrain eventually converged around The Fin.

This made the subsidiary peak one of the defining landmarks of the entire route.

📜 The 1976 Attempt

In 1976, a party from Portland attempted Mount Foraker’s Southwest Ridge.

The climbers gained the ridge dividing the Lacuna and Yentna glacier systems.

They were moving toward The Fin when they lost essential climbing equipment.

Without the missing gear, continuing into the increasingly difficult terrain was no longer reasonable.

The expedition retreated.

The Fin remained one of the unresolved major obstacles on the route.

📜 The Dramatic 1977 Anchorage Expedition

Another expedition approached in early 1977.

This group, led by Earl Redman, began from a dramatically different direction.

The six-person party traveled through the Swift Fork of the Kuskokwim, crossed the Chedotlothna Glacier, climbed over a roughly 7,000-foot pass, and reached the Herron Glacier.

Four members then climbed toward the West Ridge and The Fin.

The American Alpine Journal records that the expedition succeeded in traversing The Fin.

But disaster struck soon afterward.

⚠️ The 1977 Accident

During the Anchorage expedition, a climber fell on steep terrain.

The fall pulled a roped partner with him.

The pair fell hundreds of feet before stopping in a bergschrund.

Both suffered broken ankles.

A difficult rescue followed, and the two climbers were eventually evacuated.

The remaining members descended on foot and themselves suffered another serious fall before eventually reaching safety.

The expedition did not continue to Mount Foraker’s summit.

Its traverse of The Fin nevertheless represented a major step in solving the Southwest Ridge.

Available records do not clearly identify which individual climbers should receive a conventional “first ascent” credit for The Fin itself, so it is safer to describe 1977 as the year of the first documented traverse rather than assign unsupported individual names.

🏆 The 1977 Southwest Ridge Ascent

Later during the same climbing season, another American expedition tackled the Southwest Ridge.

The team consisted of:

Nancey Goforth
Erik LeRoy
Chris Liddle
Murray Marvin

They began climbing on May 9, 1977.

Their route involved an extraordinary amount of complicated terrain.

Storms, avalanches, rockfall, ridge traverses, and major elevation changes slowed progress.

Eventually they reached the western base of The Fin.

🧗 Climbing Over The Fin

The team reached The Fin after climbing a major couloir containing approximately 2,000 feet of hard ice.

The climbing reached angles of roughly 50 to 55 degrees.

From the top of the couloir they reached the ridge at The Fin’s western side.

The American Alpine Journal account states simply that they then:

climbed over The Fin.

Beyond it, the team established a camp at approximately 13,000 feet.

From there, the Southwest Ridge still continued thousands of vertical feet toward the summit of Foraker.

Their journey was far from finished.

🏆 First Complete Ascent of Foraker’s Southwest Ridge

Goforth, LeRoy, Liddle, and Marvin eventually reached the summit of Mount Foraker on June 15, 1977.

They had been climbing for 36 days.

The descent required another ten days.

In total, the team spent 47 days on Mount Foraker.

The expedition completed the first full ascent of the Southwest Ridge.

The Fin had gone from a distant feature named in 1934 to a central obstacle on one of Foraker’s great routes.

🧱 The Fin Wall

For decades, climbers approaching The Fin concentrated mainly on its ridges.

Its enormous south-facing wall remained another matter.

The wall rises approximately 3,800 to 4,000 vertical feet above the upper Yentna Glacier.

It is composed of steep mixed terrain with rock, snow, and ice.

American climber Freddie Wilkinson became interested in the wall after studying the remote southwest side of the Foraker massif.

In 2006, he arranged an aerial reconnaissance.

What he saw confirmed both the wall’s exceptional quality and the enormous difficulty of simply reaching it.

🧭 Getting to the Fin Wall

The approach to the Fin Wall may be nearly as serious as the climb itself.

The wall stands above a remote branch of the Yentna Glacier.

During the 2007 expedition, the climbers could not simply land beneath the face.

The wilderness geography required them to establish themselves much farther down the glacier.

From there, they faced a long approach involving:

Complex glacier travel
A major icefall
Séracs
Crevasses
Avalanche terrain
A final bergschrund

Wilkinson described the upper glacial basin as a compact amphitheater surrounded by enormous walls.

Several objective hazards converged near the base of the routes.

This combination of difficult access and dangerous terrain helps explain why the Fin Wall remained untouched for so long.

🧗 The 2007 Fin Wall Expedition

In spring 2007, Peter Doucette, Ben Gilmore, and Freddie Wilkinson traveled into the upper Yentna Glacier.

Their primary objective was the unclimbed south wall of The Fin.

Before attempting it, the climbers explored several smaller mountains nearby.

They made first ascents or new routes on features including Rogue Peak and Mantok 1.

Then conditions aligned for the main objective.

On May 3, the trio began climbing the Fin Wall.

🧗 First Ascent of the Fin Wall

Doucette, Gilmore, and Wilkinson spent approximately three days on the face.

Their route climbed around 3,800 vertical feet.

The American Alpine Journal assigned the climb:

AK Grade 6, NEI 5+

This represents serious Alaska Range climbing.

The route combined steep snow, ice, mixed terrain, and long exposure in an extremely isolated environment.

The climbers reached the top of the main technical wall.

But they were not yet on the summit.

⛔ Turning Around 400 Feet Below the Summit

At the top of the wall, the climbers reached The Fin’s upper ridge at approximately 12,900 feet.

The summit remained around 400 vertical feet higher.

Normally, such a short remaining distance might seem trivial after climbing a 3,800-foot wall.

In Alaska, it was not.

Bad weather had moved onto the summit ridge.

Rather than continue into increasingly uncertain conditions simply to claim the summit, Doucette, Gilmore, and Wilkinson turned back.

The decision meant their climb was technically a first ascent of the Fin Wall, not a new summit ascent of The Fin.

The National Park Service specifically preserves this distinction in its mountaineering records.

🧗 Why the 2007 Climb Was Still Important

Failing to reach the summit did little to diminish the importance of the climb.

The team’s primary objective had been the previously unclimbed south wall.

They had successfully completed it.

The climb demonstrated a modern alpinist philosophy in which the quality and difficulty of a new line could be more meaningful than reaching a summit by any means available.

The American Alpine Club and climbing press regarded the ascent as one of the notable achievements of the 2007 Alaska season.

The Fin Wall had finally been climbed.

🏔️ Why Is The Fin So Difficult?

The Fin’s difficulties extend far beyond altitude.

At approximately 13,350 feet, it is lower than Mount Hunter and vastly lower than Denali.

Yet technical difficulty cannot be measured by summit elevation.

The mountain combines:

Extreme remoteness
Difficult glacier access
Avalanche exposure
Séracs
Steep ice
Technical mixed climbing
Large rock walls
Long retreat routes
Severe Alaska Range weather

On many high mountains, a climber can focus mainly on the route.

On The Fin, simply reaching the route can become a major expedition.

❄️ The Yentna Glacier

The upper Yentna Glacier lies southwest of Mount Foraker.

The Fin Wall rises above one of its remote branches.

Compared with the famous Kahiltna Glacier, which supports the standard approach to Denali and many Foraker routes, the Yentna receives very little mountaineering traffic.

The National Park Service describes the wider southwestern section of Denali as exceptionally remote and rarely visited.

Glacier travel here can involve:

Crevasses
Icefalls
Séracs
Avalanche runout zones
Complex navigation
Few other parties
Limited opportunities for assistance

The Fin’s location at the head of this glacial maze contributes greatly to its wilderness character.

🏞️ Denali Wilderness

The Fin lies within Denali National Park and Preserve and the vast wilderness landscape surrounding the central Alaska Range.

Denali contains roughly two million acres of federally designated wilderness and millions more acres managed for wilderness character.

The park’s backcountry differs greatly from heavily developed mountain regions.

Outside specific developed corridors, travelers may encounter no trails, shelters, route markers, or campsites.

The National Park Service repeatedly emphasizes self-reliance.

That principle becomes especially relevant around a summit as remote as The Fin.

🪨 Geology

The Fin belongs to the geologically complex Alaska Range.

The range was created through ongoing interaction between tectonic plates along southern Alaska.

The Pacific Plate and the Yakutat microplate have moved northward against the North American Plate.

The resulting compression has contributed to uplift of the Alaska Range.

Large faults, including the Denali Fault system, continue to accommodate regional deformation.

The mountains are therefore not geologically static.

Tectonic uplift continues even as glaciers, frost, gravity, and weather constantly erode the peaks.

🪨 Granitic Peaks

Many of the highest peaks in the central and western Alaska Range are associated with strong granitic intrusive rocks.

USGS research has shown that these resistant plutons contribute to the unusually high relief of mountains including Denali and Mount Foraker.

Granite can withstand glacial erosion more effectively than some of the highly fractured sedimentary rocks surrounding it.

This helps high granitic massifs project thousands of feet above neighboring terrain.

The spectacular walls around Foraker and The Fin are part of this landscape of resistant intrusive rock shaped by intense glacial erosion.

🧊 A Landscape Sculpted by Ice

Glaciers have transformed the Alaska Range.

The National Park Service notes that ice is the dominant erosional force in the high mountains of Denali.

Glaciers carve:

U-shaped valleys
Cirques
Arêtes
Hanging valleys
Steep mountain walls
Deep glacial basins

The Fin’s blade-like appearance is therefore the product of both tectonic uplift and glacial erosion.

Ice flowing on different sides of the ridge has helped sharpen the mountain into the form that inspired its name.

🌨️ Alaska Range Weather

The central Alaska Range experiences notoriously severe weather.

Storms may bring:

Heavy snowfall
Strong wind
Whiteouts
Extreme cold
Rapidly increasing avalanche danger

Mount Foraker is particularly exposed.

The Fin shares that environment.

Weather played an important role in almost every major historical expedition associated with the summit.

The 1977 Southwest Ridge party endured repeated storms.

In 2007, deteriorating weather was the reason Doucette, Gilmore, and Wilkinson declined to continue the final 400 feet from the top of the Fin Wall to the summit.

⚠️ Avalanche & Sérac Danger

The upper Yentna approach contains severe objective hazards.

Avalanches can sweep down from the surrounding walls.

Large séracs occupy sections of the glacier.

Icefalls complicate access.

The 2007 team had to navigate several miles of exposed glacial terrain before reaching the relative shelter of the wall itself.

These hazards are especially serious because they cannot always be controlled by climbing skill.

The strongest climber in the world cannot prevent a sérac from collapsing.

Successful Alaskan mountaineering therefore depends heavily on judgment, timing, and willingness to retreat.

🌡️ Altitude

At approximately 13,350 feet, The Fin is high enough for altitude to affect climbers.

Possible symptoms include:

Headache
Fatigue
Nausea
Poor sleep
Shortness of breath

However, altitude is usually not the dominant challenge.

Most serious climbers approaching The Fin will already have spent substantial time traveling and climbing at elevation.

The mountain’s greatest difficulties come from technical terrain, weather, remoteness, and objective hazards.

🥾 Can You Hike The Fin?

No.

The Fin is not a hiking summit.

There is no trail to its summit and no conventional trekking approach.

Reaching the mountain requires technical glacier travel through one of the most isolated sections of the Alaska Range.

A summit attempt can involve:

Roped glacier travel
Ice climbing
Snow climbing
Mixed climbing
Technical rock
Avalanche assessment
Expedition camping
Complex navigation

It should be viewed as a serious Alaska Range mountaineering objective.

🚁 Access

Modern climbing in the central Alaska Range is closely associated with aircraft access.

Many expeditions fly from Talkeetna to glacier landing zones.

The Fin presents a more complicated problem.

Its location deep in the Yentna system and within protected wilderness means landing opportunities near the mountain are restricted and conditions are highly variable.

The 2007 Fin Wall team had to begin well away from the face and travel through a difficult glacier approach.

Current expeditions should consult the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station and authorized air-taxi operators because landing rules, permits, glacier conditions, and wilderness requirements can change.

🏔️ The Fin vs. Mount Foraker

Feature	The Fin	Mount Foraker
Elevation	Approx. 13,350 ft	17,400 ft
Prominence	Approx. 500 ft	Approx. 7,250 ft
Isolation	Approx. 1.13 mi	Approx. 13.5 mi
Classification	Subsidiary summit	Major independent mountain
Famous Route	Fin Wall	Sultana Ridge / Infinite Spur
First Named	1934	1899 English name
Character	Technical subpeak	Major expedition mountain

Mount Foraker is more than 4,000 feet higher and vastly more prominent.

Yet The Fin’s sheer south wall provides technical climbing comparable in seriousness to major faces on much larger mountains.

🏔️ Nearby Mountains

Mount Foraker

Mount Foraker is The Fin’s parent mountain and dominant higher neighbor.

It reaches 17,400 feet and is the second-highest summit in the Alaska Range.

Denali

Denali rises northeast of Foraker to 20,310 feet.

It is the highest mountain in North America.

Mount Hunter

Mount Hunter reaches approximately 14,573 feet southeast of the Foraker massif.

Its steep faces and ridges have made it another major destination for technical Alaskan alpinism.

Mount Crosson

Mount Crosson lies northeast of Mount Foraker.

It forms an important part of the approach to the Sultana Ridge route.

Mount Russell

Mount Russell rises southwest of the central Denali massif and helps define the enormous wilderness surrounding the upper Yentna drainage.

🏔️ A Peak Defined by Its Face

Many mountains become famous because of their summit height.

The Fin is different.

Its identity is inseparable from its shape and its south wall.

Modern mapping places it only around 13,350 feet—high by most standards, but not exceptional in Alaska.

Its prominence is only around 500 feet.

Yet below that modest summit rises almost 4,000 feet of extraordinarily steep Alpine terrain.

This is why The Fin matters to climbers.

The numbers describe a subsidiary peak.

The landscape reveals something much more imposing.

🌍 Why The Fin Is Special

The Fin represents a side of the Alaska Range that relatively few people ever experience.

It is not a commercially guided summit.

It is not beside a popular glacier base camp.

There is no normal hiking trail.

There may be no other climbing teams anywhere nearby.

Its history stretches from the exploratory expeditions of 1934, when climbers first looked toward its fin-shaped profile, through the epic Southwest Ridge expeditions of the 1970s and into the lightweight technical alpinism of the 21st century.

Even the famous 2007 Fin Wall ascent ended without a summit.

The climbers chose safety and the quality of the route over the symbolic final 400 feet.

That decision captures much of what defines The Fin.

It is a mountain where the challenge lies not merely in standing on top, but in navigating one of the wildest and most difficult corners of the Alaska Range to get there at all.

💡 Interesting Facts

The Fin rises to approximately 13,300–13,400 feet.
The commonly quoted 13,350-foot elevation is an approximation.
Early climbers estimated the mountain as high as 14,000 feet.
It lies on the Southwest Ridge of Mount Foraker.
Its prominence is approximately 500 feet.
Its isolation is about 1.13 miles.
Its nearest higher neighbor is Mount Foraker’s Southwest Peak.
The 1934 first-ascent expedition on Mount Foraker named The Fin.
A 1977 Anchorage expedition made the first documented traverse of the feature.
Later in 1977, Nancey Goforth, Erik LeRoy, Chris Liddle, and Murray Marvin climbed over The Fin during the first complete ascent of Foraker’s Southwest Ridge.
The Fin Wall rises approximately 3,800 feet above the upper Yentna Glacier.
Peter Doucette, Ben Gilmore, and Freddie Wilkinson made the first ascent of the Fin Wall in 2007.
Their route was graded AK Grade 6, NEI 5+.
The 2007 team stopped approximately 400 vertical feet below The Fin’s summit because of bad weather.
The Fin lies within Denali National Park and Preserve.
Its extreme remoteness makes the approach itself a significant mountaineering challenge.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How high is The Fin in Alaska?

Modern USGS mapping places The Fin’s summit between 13,300 and 13,400 feet. Approximately 13,350 feet (4,069 meters) is a useful midpoint estimate.

Where is The Fin?

The Fin lies on the Southwest Ridge of Mount Foraker in the central Alaska Range within Denali National Park and Preserve.

Is The Fin a separate mountain?

It is best classified as a named subsidiary summit of Mount Foraker.

What is The Fin’s parent peak?

Its parent mountain is Mount Foraker.

What is The Fin’s nearest higher neighbor?

Peakbagger identifies Mount Foraker – Southwest Peak as the nearest higher neighbor, with higher terrain approximately 1.13 miles away.

How prominent is The Fin?

Peakbagger gives approximately 500 feet (152 meters) of clean prominence.

Why is it called The Fin?

Members of the 1934 Mount Foraker expedition gave the feature its name because of its narrow, fin-like appearance along the Southwest Ridge.

Who first climbed The Fin?

The early history is not sufficiently clear to assign an unquestionable individual first-ascent party. An Anchorage expedition led by Earl Redman made the first clearly documented traverse of The Fin in 1977.

Later that season, Nancey Goforth, Erik LeRoy, Chris Liddle, and Murray Marvin climbed over it during the first successful complete ascent of Mount Foraker’s Southwest Ridge.

Who first climbed the Fin Wall?

Peter Doucette, Ben Gilmore, and Freddie Wilkinson made the first ascent of the south-facing Fin Wall from May 3–5, 2007.

How tall is the Fin Wall?

The technical wall rises approximately 3,800 feet, or roughly 1,160 meters.

How difficult is the Fin Wall?

The 2007 first-ascent route was graded AK Grade 6, NEI 5+.

Did the 2007 Fin Wall climbers reach the summit?

No. They completed the previously unclimbed wall and reached the summit ridge at approximately 12,900 feet, then turned around about 400 vertical feet below The Fin’s summit because of worsening weather.

Is The Fin inside Denali National Park?

Yes. It lies within Denali National Park and Preserve and the remote wilderness surrounding Mount Foraker.

Can you hike The Fin?

No. The Fin is a technical mountaineering objective requiring glacier travel, climbing skills, expedition equipment, and experience with remote Alaska Range conditions.

Why is The Fin so difficult despite being lower than many Alaska mountains?

Its challenge comes from the combination of remote glacier access, avalanche and sérac danger, steep technical climbing, severe weather, and difficult retreat rather than elevation alone.

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