>>2769657Denali is not even the most impressive vertical relief peak in Alaska. Look it up, often defined as observed elevation change within 10 nautical or normal miles on land in North America (aviation standard, as high relief peaks are impact hazards for private aircraft in western North America), vertical relief is NOT the same as technical prominence which limits itself to saddles (even if they are 1,500 miles distant for continental high points like Mont Blanc). Mount Saint Elias is the most impressive peak on Earth that rises directly from sea level, it rises 18,000 ft (5486m) within 11 US miles (9.5 nautical miles) or within 18 km. And a less impressive but respectable range, the Chugach mountains of S central Alaska average an estimated 1,000-2,000 inches (25-50 meters) of snowfall a year (all months of the year), due to their location near the North Pacific (Alaskan) atmospheric gyre, the same gyre delivers 200 inches of annual precipitation to the lowland rainforests of Alaska all the way down to northern California's temperate rainforests, and in winter the gyre delivers hundreds of inches of snowfall on upland terrain as far south as southern Arizona and New Mexico (Utah, Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington getting the most in the lower 48, each with multiple places averaging more than 500 inches or 13 meters of winter snowfall). At least 7 lower 48 US states also have peaks that have at least 8,000 ft (2400m) of vertical relief within 11 air miles or are within 30m of that marker (CA, OR, WA, ID, CO, NV, AZ, and UT separately is within 70m), Hawaii separately also has peaks that meets that criteria. A peak in Idaho along the Snake River actually drops 8,000 ft (2438m) in less than 6 miles (9.7km).
