Interesting Photo of the Day: A Rare Clear View of Denali

Interesting Photos

Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, is renowned as the tallest mountain in North America, located in Alaska. Nearby is yet natural wonder: the Ruth Glacier. The glacier’s “Great Gorge” is a mile wide, and drops almost 2,000 feet over 10 miles. Interestingly, the height from the top of the cliffs beside the glacier to the bottom of the glacier exceeds the height of the Grand Canyon. Photographer Anders Young was able to photograph these two natural wonders in a single frame—and the way he achieved this is yet another wonder in itself.

“Aerial View of the Denali Region” by Anders Young (Via Reddit. Click image to see full size.)

Young took the image on a Nikon Z6 with the Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens at 24mm, 1/320 seconds, f/10 and ISO 200. He flew on a Luscombe 8A aircraft about 10,000 feet high to capture all these natural marvels in a single frame.

“In the background, Denali reaches 20,310ft above sea level, over double the altitude that I took this photo from.”

If you are familiar with the environment around this place, you’ll know that such an expansive view of Denali is incredibly rare. That’s because the summit is almost always shrouded in clouds. The morning he took this photo, Young could see Denali on the horizon all the way from Anchorage, 135 miles south. Talk about being lucky!

While Denali dominates the background, Ruth Glacier in the foreground looks like a road you could drive on. Composition-wise, it acts as a fantastic leading line, drawing us into the image through the sharp granite peaks lining the gorge.

Would you complain of the bitterly cold temperature if you got to fly around this beautiful region?