Fees Boost Safety

Mount McKinley

A $150 climbing fee and a 60-day advance registration requirement apparently are saving lives at Alaska’s Mount McKinley.

The fees have been used for educational materials, printed in seven languages, so climbers know what they’re up against and have the background to make good decisions while they’re on the mountain, said J.D. Swed, climbing ranger for Denali National Park.

The 60-day advance registrations allows time for the preventative education and preparations to occur, he said.

“There’s no question it’s reduced the number of rescues,” Swed said.

In the four years before the regulations went into effect in 1994, Denali averaged more than 15 mountain rescues a year. Since 1994, the average has dropped to 11.

Fatalities decreased more than 25 percent, from four or five a year before 1994 to 3 in the years since 1994.

The climbing fee originally was intended for a fund to finance rescues, but legal considerations forced the park to drop that plan, Swed said.