Tony Lucarelli, age 13, of Helena, Mont., for his question:

WHERE IS NORTH AMERICA'S TALLEST MOUNTAIN?

Mount McKinley is the highest peak in North America. Also called Mount Denali, it is found in the Alaska Range in south central Alaska, in Mount McKinley National Park. It is often called the "top of the continent."

Mount McKinley has two ice covered peaks, the South Peak which is 20,320 feet above sea level, and the North Peak, which is 19,470 feet high.

The height of the South Peak was believed to be 20,269 feet for many years. But in 1956, after 10 years of surveys, the United States Geological Survey established the height as 20,320 feet.

The mountain was named in 1896 for William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. The Indian name, Denali, means "the great one" or "the high one."

It wasn't until 1913 that the summit of Mount McKinley was first reached. The South Peak was conquered by an Anglo American clergyman and explorer named Hudson Stuck. Earlier, in 1910, the top of North Peak was reached by a party of miners from Fairbanks led by Peter Anderson and William Taylor.