As North America’s tallest mountain, Mount Denali towers over the landscape in Denali National Park. Grand Marais Arctic explorer Lonnie Dupre is testing his mettle against the mountain for the third time in as many years in his quest to become the first person to solo climb to the top of the 20,320-foot peak in the month of January, the coldest, darkest month of the year.
As he makes his way to the 20,320-foot summit of Mount Denali, North America’s highest point, Grand Marais explorer/adventurer Lonnie Dupre was hoping the deep snow that plagued him early in his journey would end at about 11,000 feet. But so far, it’s been slow going as he has had to battle deeper snow then usual.
On Sunday, January 20, Dupre traveled from 11.2K to 12K where he had previously left his sled and then brought up the majority of his gear to 13K gear, just west of Windy Corner.
The day before Dupre slept 18 hours, waking only once to clear away 2 feet of snow that had fallen on his tarp over his snow cave.
On Monday, January 21, Dupre moved his gear to 13.6 K, just a couple of hours shy of his camp at 14.2K.
“It was a tough 11-hour day carrying and pulling all of his gear with him, so he made camp and slept,” said Stevie Plummer, his communications director.
By Tuesday, January 22 Dupre was at his 14.2K camp where he built a “deluxe” snow cave large enough for most of his gear. When the snow cave was completed he celebrated with a supper of peas and potatoes.
Wednesday was a rest day Thursday and Friday he was going to haul his gear in stages to his 17K camp with rest thrown in when he needed it. This will be his last camp before heading to the summit, hopefully, which will take place early next week.
If all goes well Dupre will become the first person to solo climb Mount Denali in January, the coldest, darkest month of the year. Along the way he is taking pictures that he will use in a documentary called Cold Love, which he hopes will draw attention to the effects global warming is having on the Arctic regions of the planet.
Leave a Reply