Walter Harper (1893 – October 25, 1918) was a mountain climber and guide of mixed white and Alaska Native ancestry.

On Saturday, 7 June 1913, he was the first person to reach the summit of Denali (Mount McKinley), the highest mountain in North America.

Harper and his partner Al Mayo founded a trading post in Tanana, near the Athabascan site of Nuklukayet.

[4] Stuck was impressed by Harper's intelligence, manners, and skills in fishing, tracking, trapping, fire-building, and dog handling.

Others in the party were the chief guide and co-director Harry Peter Karstens; Robert Tatum, an Episcopal missionary, who served as cook;[8] and two Gwich'in teenagers, Johnny Fredson and Esaias George,[9] who helped prepare and maintain the base camp.

The first day, they hiked 30 miles (48 km) along the Tanana River valley with two sleds of supplies, pulled by fourteen dogs.

[9] Encouraged by Stuck, at age 21 Harper entered Mount Hermon School where he studied for two years, leaving in 1916.

From there, they would travel to Philadelphia, where Harper had been admitted to medical school, and his wife planned to join the Red Cross.

A day later, as the ship was passing through Lynn Canal en route to Juneau, it encountered a strong gale and heavy snow.

Princess Sophia went 1 mile (1.6 km) off course and ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef, the flat, rocky tip of an underwater mountain.

After about 40 hours, Princess Sophia broke apart and sank on October 25, killing all 268 passengers and 75 crew, a total of 343 persons lost, including Walter and Frances.