Lonnie Dupre’s attempt to climb Alaska’s Mount Hunter didn’t last as long as he had hoped it would. Dupre was set back immediately by bad weather and uneven (and dangerous) snow conditions. He abandoned his attempt to become the first person to climb solo up the mountain in the winter after three frustrating days.
After enduring several days of high winds, poor snow conditions, and brutal cold, Grand Marais adventurer Lonnie Dupre abandoned his attempt to become the first person to climb Mount Hunter in Alaska’s Denali Park unaided and alone.
Dupre was flown to Kahiltna glacier at the base of Mount Hunter on January 5 but unfortunately, couldn’t begin his climb until high winds decreased.
On January 7 Dupre set across the glacier at the base of the mountain on skis, encountering large chunks of ice that encumbered his progress. When the terrain got too steep to ski, Dupre switched to making his way on foot with poles. Walking was difficult. The snow was waist deep, but Dupre couldn’t plow through the snow because it had a thick crust. Making little progress and realizing he would have to camp among the ice falls, Dupre returned to his camp and relocated further north, seeking out a route steeper in pitch.
The next day Dupre sought an alternate way up the mountain but had to turn back. According to his blog he climbed some steep, technical pitches, but did not have sufficient protection from falling rocks to continue. On his way down, Dupre broke through a bergschrund (a crevasse created where the glacier meets the mountain). With both feet dangling into the void, Dupre arrested the fall at shoulder level.
“With great effort and time, he managed to get himself and his backpack out of the crevasse. He was pretty shaken up,” wrote his publicist, Stevie Anna Plummer.
After enduring several days of brutal cold and high winds, Dupre started back for his landing strip.
At 14,573 feet Mount Hunter isn’t exceptionally tall for mountaineers, but due to its steep pitch, nasty cold, high winds and often severe snow conditions, it is considered North America’s most challenging 14,000-foot mountain to climb.
On December 30 Dupre wrote the following in his journal. “To say I’m not outright scared would be untrue. Hunter has me at the threshold of my capabilities. So many unknowns…climbing with a heavy pack, route, calories, storm days—and there will be some.
“I’m going to miss my life if I lose it; next to warm skin, wood fires, and tasty food. But what is life living in wait of warm bread out of the oven each day? It’s not easy to leave; it’s almost harder than the task ahead. There is so much to lose either way. Getting complacent at 55 is not a life for me: movement is life, seeing what is under the next rock is life, feeling the wind biting at my nose is life.
“Yet I stand to lose the fruits of life; great relationship, a cozy home, good friends, future dreams. I love life! Unfortunately one is often on the edge of losing it to experience the most of it. It’s a big yin-yang. We have one life on this little blue planet, to hold back would be a waste.”
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