Mount McKinley (Denali) Height Conversion: 20,320 Feet to Meters and Kilometers

Mount McKinley (officially Denali since 2015) in Alaska stands as North America's highest peak. Converting its historic elevation of 20,320 feet to metric units with proper significant figures:

Conversion Calculation

Given: 20,320 ft (5 significant figures — implied precision to nearest foot)
Conversion Factor: 1 ft = 0.3048 m (exact, defined)

To Meters

20,320 ft × 0.3048 m/ft = 6,193.536 m
Rounded to 5 significant figures: 6,193.5 m

To Kilometers

6,193.5 m ÷ 1,000 m/km = 6.1935 km
Rounded to 5 significant figures: 6.1935 km

Notes on Precision

• The 20,320 ft figure dates from 1952 photogrammetric survey. Modern GPS (2015) gives 20,310 ft (6,190.5 m).
• Significant figures preserved from original measurement (5 SF). Conversion factor is exact (infinite SF).
• If using 20,310 ft (modern): 6,190.5 m / 6.1905 km.

For most purposes: 6,194 m or 6.19 km (4 SF) balances accuracy and practicality. The 1952 figure remains widely cited in historical contexts.