Sometimes training at high altitude isn’t all bad. Here Lonnie Dupre meets a couple of mountain goats on Quandary Peak in Colorado where he went for some physical conditioning before his second attempt at climbing Mount Denali. At 20,350 feet, Mount Denali is the tallest peak in North America.
Did he or didn’t he see Santa Claus?
Grand Marais resident Lonnie Dupre is trying once again to become the first person to solo climb Mount Denali in the dead of winter, the windiest, coldest, darkest period of the year.
Along the way he hopes to chronicle the effects of global warming and experiment with the latest in high tech batteries, electronics, and cold weather gear as he scales the mountain. He’s also a very observant fellow.
While the rest of us were warm as toast and snug as bugs in rugs in our houses on Christmas day, surrounded by wrapping paper and presents and needles falling off the Christmas tree, one too many biscuits bulging from our bellies, Dupre spent Christmas in a snow cave and rested for the day.
His Christmas dinner was chicken noodle soup, tea and chocolate for dessert.
But on Christmas Eve Dupre noticed something. Something intriguing.
According to his base camp manager Stevie Anna Plummer, “Lonnie, while building his snow cave the other night, said there might have been something whoosh across the sky with a beaming red light in the front. He said it sped by too quickly to get a decent look. However, he said if he happens to be in a snow cave next Christmas Eve he will be sure to add a chimney to it!”
The day after Christmas Dupre packed up his sled and pulled his 150 pounds of gear up the Kahiltna Glacier and hoped to end up at around 9,500 feet.
So far the weather has been moderate, with a low pressure system that is continuing to brush and paint and sculpt the area with a little bit of snow here and there. But the winds have been picking up, pushing 15 to 20 miles per hour, which according to Plummer is a good omen, “because that means it’s most likely blowing in the high pressure we were hoping for.” High pressure means less snowfall, which will allow Dupre to make better time as he continues onward and upward.
For Dupre, his second attempt at climbing the 20,350- foot Mount Denali is a personal challenge. Last January he was turned back after spending seven days in a snow cave while he was only eight hours from the summit. He said this attempt is also “a way to bring attention to the world’s receding glaciers and climate change.”
Along the way Dupre will gather microbe samples for Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. The data will give a better understanding of how climate change will affect the production of living matter in extreme environments. He will also collect other forms of microbe samples (rock from high elevation on Denali) for researcher Dragos Zaharescu from the Biosphere 2 project at the University of Arizona.
“The goal of my data collection is to help scientists understand how nutrient cycling is affected by climate change. Basically, this means we can begin to understand how climate change will affect the production of living matter in extreme environments,” Dupre said.
As far as recording the evershrinking glaciers, it’s almost impossible to do in winter because they are covered in snow. However, said Plummer, “Lonnie will be taking many photos and video up there which we are compiling into a documentary. He plans on using that for speaking engagements for 2012.”
Plummer said at least one of those speaking engagements would be held in Cook County where he will also show his pictures.
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