Denali Shrunk!

This news just in!

Updated radar mapping conducted in 2012 put Denali at 20,237 feet rather than 20,320 feet, Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell told the annual symposium of the International Map Collectors’ Society held in Fairbanks this week.

“That’s 83 feet shorter than we thought,” Treadwell said, according to a press release on Wednesday. “The good news is: Denali is still the tallest peak in North America.”

According to the press release, the new height was measured in 2012 as part of Alaska’s Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative.

The mapping also revealed the entire ridge line of Mt. Dickey in Denali National Park had been missing from previous maps.

The mapping effort has been running since 2010 and has been funded by both the state and the federal government. It’s nearly 50 percent complete and the release says it’s on schedule to be finished by 2016.

The United States Geological Survey has produced 400 new Alaska maps and will produce more than 11,000 maps of the state. All the maps are available for public download at http://nationalmap.gov/alaska.