For many the climb to the top of Mount McKinley is the journey of a lifetime. Unfortunately for one climber, his life's journey ended at the summit.

On the Fourth of July evening, a climber collapsed and died on the 20,320-foot summit of the mountain, said Denali National Park and Preserve officials. According to officials, this was the first time that anyone has died atop the summit.

51-year-old James Nasti of Naperville, Ill., was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by his guides for up to 45 minutes. Nasti's pulse never returned.

Alpine Ascents International guides said that Nasti was climbing strong since the beginning of the expedition on June 20. The climber showed no signs of distress or illness, the guides said. According to a Park Services news release, Nasti collapsed without warning and after climbing strongly.

The climbing team and their clients were advised by National Park Service rangers, who were operating from the 14,200-foot camp, to carefully descend to the 17,200-foot camp, "as there was no safe means of recovering the deceased at that time," the Park Service said.

"Just below the summit, climbers must negotiate a 500-foot-long knife-edge ridge. A recovery along this ridge would require a highly skilled technical rescue team and a rope rigging system," the Park Service said. "Considering the high risk involved in such a ground lowering, as well as the excessive risk of a helicopter recovery at this extreme elevation, the National Park Service has determined that the safest alternative is to leave the remains of the deceased climber on the mountain at this time."

This is not the first time a team has been forced to leave the body of one of their climbers behind on the mountain. The body of a climber who died at an elevation of 19,600-feet in 1988, was never recovered.