A climber in the fog. NPS Photo

All climbers attempting Mt. McKinley or Mt. Foraker must register with Denali National Park & Preserve and pay a special use fee of $200.00 per climber plus park entrance fee ($10.00 per person or $20.00 per family).

The special use fee offsets costs to the South District related to mountaineering, such as maintaining the high-altitude ranger station, staff, and mountaineering booklets. In addition to the special use fee, a 60-day pre-registration regulation allows mountaineering rangers to have direct contact with climbers before they arrive in Talkeetna. In doing so, rangers are able to suggest appropriate routes for different levels of expertise and offer first-hand knowledge of conditions encountered in the Alaska Range. Learn more about registration.

The National Park Service wishes to notify climbers and mountaineers that they should expect these regulations to be strictly enforced. Climbers who are not pre-registered a minimum of 60 days in advance will be denied permission to climb Mount McKinley or Mount Foraker. Our goal is that you have a safe journey while climbing in the Alaska Range.

Denali National Park & Preserve Mountaineering Booklet, available in eight languages, covers mandatory requirements, search and rescue information, clean climbing requirements, high altitude medical problems, glacier hazards, and self-sufficiency. You should have a solid understanding of potentially serious medical problems and awareness of the extreme mental and physical stresses associated with high altitude mountaineering. Visit the Alaska Natural History Associations Bookstore online to find the mountaineering and guide books available for Denali as well as literature on high altitude climbing.

International climbers can reference the U.S. Customs & Border Protection website for travel documentation information such as visa or passport requirements, or contact your nation's Embassy or Consulate. For information regarding specific food or specialty items that can or cannot be flown into the United States, consult the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

Please feel free to contact the Talkeetna Ranger Station with any additional questions, or to request a hard copy of the Mountaineering Booklet at (907) 733-2231, or DENA_Talkeetna_Office@nps.gov or by mail at:

Talkeetna Ranger Station
PO Box 588
Talkeetna, AK 99676