A Double Climb
Alaska's towering Mt. McKinley has formidable twin peaks of 20,320 and 19,400 feet, and officials at the Mt. McKinley station of the National Park Service announced last summer that a party led by David Dingman '58 had been the first in history to scale both summits in the same day. The mountain is located equidistant between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, and is by far the highest on the North American continent.
Dingman and his party started their original climb on June 10 but were forced to turn back from a route called the Pioneer Ridge because of hazardous ice and snow conditions. However, this bit of adversity failed to daunt the group and two weeks later they hired a bush pilot to fly them from their camp at 10,000 feet up the north face around to the south side of the mountain for a new attempt at the climb. This try was successful and when they reached the top, Dingman told his parents later, the sun was bright, the skies clear, and there was little wind. Although the temperature was ten degrees below zero, they were able to take off their heavy coats and sit around in their shirtsleeves for a short time.
After the rest of the six-man party had caught up with them, Dingman led the group down to an area called the Denali Pass that was located at an altitude of 18,200 feet between the two summits. There it was decided to attempt a climb to the north summit of the mountain immediately, and by 7:30 P.M. of that same day Dingman and his friends had achieved their goal and stood atop the other peak at a height of 19,400 feet. Because of Mt. McKinley's great elevation and extreme north latitude, the expedition was blessed with nearly 22 hours of sunlight a day and it was possible to climb for much longer periods than would have ordinarily been possible.
After the climb, Dingman spent the remainder of the summer as an instructor at the School of American Mountain Climbing at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Last fall he returned to the University of Michigan as a second-year medical student.
