ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – What began as a dream passed from mother to daughter culminated this week in a successful ascent of North America’s tallest mountain.
“My mom summited all fifty state high points exactly thirty years ago,” Seattle mountaineer Bailey D’Antonio recalled as the origin point for her dream: to follow in her footsteps.
What followed was years of slowly checking summits off the list, ranging from 345 feet above sea level – Florida’s Britton Hill, which D’Antonio called “interesting” – to the pièce de résistance, the 20,310-foot Mt. McKinley, which D’Antonio finally conquered earlier this week…