Alaska's Mount McKinley is shorter than originally thought.
According to Epoch Times, North America's tallest mountain, which is also known as Mount Denali, is slightly over 20,000 feet tall. Mt. McKinley is 83-feet shorter than previously recorded. North America's tallest mountain, also known as Mount Denali, is just over 20,000 feet tall.
Officials found the peak, located in Alaska, is 20,237 feet rather than 20,320 feet according to a press release from Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, the Epoch Times reported.
"That's 83 feet shorter than we thought," Treadwell said. "The good news is: Denali is still the tallest peak in North America."
Treadwell used data that was referenced by recent data from an orthometric survey.
"Alaska's maps are nearly 50 years old and have never met National Map Accuracy Standards," Treadwell said "The combined effort of multiple federal partners and the State of Alaska to get Alaska mapped is making great progress."
After a field recording from 1989, officials discovered the peak was 14-feet shorter than findings from a recording done in 1952 Mt. McKinley, which lies in the Alaska range is the only mountain in North America that is over 6,000 meters Epoch Times reported.
The next tallest is Mount Logan, which is located in the Yukon region of Canada, and stands at 19,551 feet tall. Mexico's Pico de Orizaba comes in a close third at 18,491 feet.
Mount Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada range is the second-tallest in the United States lower regions. This is followed by Washington's Mount Rainer in third. Roughly $10 million has been invested in Alaska's statewide digital mapping initiative since 2010.
In addition to this, the United States government has also made its contribution, time, and effort, investing $14 million to cover the overall cost of creating a digital elevation model of Alaska.
