Before heading up another cold mountain Grand Marais cold weather adventurer Lonnie Dupre enjoys a hot cup of coffee.
Grand Marais cold weather adventurer Lonnie Dupre is set to make a third attempt to climb Mount Hunter in Alaska.
Mount Hunter (14,573 feet) is the steepest and most technical of the three great peaks in Denali National Park. It is also known as the most difficult 14,000-foot peak to climb in North America.
The first winter ascent of Mount Hunter took place in March of 1980 by a three-person team. No one has yet to succeed at a solo ascent of this mountain during the winter. That is the focus of Dupre’s 2018 expedition.
Dupre will attempt to become the first to make a solo winter ascent of Mount Hunter starting the end of February. With limited daylight and long nights at this time of year in the sub-arctic, much of the camping and some of the climbing will be carried out in the darkness of winter.
“High winds and deep snow will be big obstacles, but technical climbing in extreme cold poses the greatest challenge,” said Dupre.
Depending on what Dupre sees of this year’s snow and glacier conditions from the air during his fly-in to basecamp on February 27th the climb will either take place via the North West Basin variation to the West Ridge or Ramen Route.
Dupre will begin by shuttling supplies up the first 1,500 feet of the mountain from an advanced basecamp during the first few days of the project. Once in position and with a good weather forecast, he will make an ultra-light, weeklong push to the summit and back. A stable window of good weather is paramount to the success of the climb due to the limited supplies. The expedition is expected to take 15 days.
PrimaLoft, Granite Gear, Mountain Hardwear, Voyageur Brewing, Hilleberg Tents, and Globalstar support the expedition.
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