Mara Mountain, in northern Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, is the closest known mountain to the North Pole

North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

. Located in the Roosevelt Mountain Range in Peary Land

Peary Land

Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the northernmost point of Greenland's mainland, and Cape...

, it is approximately 446.17 miles (718.04 km) away from the North Pole. Named after Mara Boland, a horse trainer, mountaineer, and photographer from Santa Ynez, the mountain was first ascended during the American Top of The World Expedition of 1998 and was visited again in the 2003 Expedition led by Dennis Schmitt

Dennis Schmitt

Dennis Schmitt , is a veteran explorer from UC Berkeley who, in 2005, discovered a new island formed by the retreat of an ice shelf in East Greenland...

. The first climb to the summit was on July 14, 1998 in five hours by the team members of the Top of The World Expedition and it was later named Mara Mountain on July 6, 2003 in the 2003 Expedition for the northernmost island in the world. The team then had six members, including Mara Boland.