Lonnie Dupre spent more than six days in a snow-cave much smaller than the one pictured here. Dupre ended his quest on 1-26-11 to become the first person to solo climb Denali in January, and was headed to his base camp at 7,200 feet at press time.
Lonnie Dupre’s quest to become the first person to solo climb Mount Denali in January ended on January 27. Dupre was at 10,000 feet and headed down the mountain to his base camp as of press time.
After making record time early in the climb, Dupre ran into harsh weather conditions three-quarters of the way up the mountain.
Dupre didn’t go anywhere for 6 days after making a small snow cave to shelter him on January 18. He lay, trapped by high winds and extreme cold, at 17,200 feet in a 3’x3’x6’ snow cave that was holding an inside temperature of -5 below zero.
On Monday, January 24, Dupre’s audio report included these words, “I’m waiting for a window. I can’t climb up and I can’t climb down. I still have a good attitude and I’m fairly optimistic, but there’s no let up from this wind.”
With dwindling resources and flagging energy, Dupre decided to head back down the mountain when there was a break in the weather. On January 27, his base camp manager, Tom Surprenant said, “He’s past Windy Corner and traveled through some dangerous glacier fields. He’s on a safer part of the mountain now, but has about 7 miles to go to get to his base camp at 7,200 feet. It’s a long slog and he’s sore and tired. But I think he can ‘smell the barn’ and make it safely back.”
Once at base camp a plane will be brought in (when the weather allows) to fly Lonnie back to Talkeetna, and then it will be off to Grand Marais.
According to Surprenant, Lonnie left his snow cave only once in six days, and that was a brief break.
Surprenant said Dupre had been plagued by headaches and was in the beginning stages of hypothermia and high altitude sickness due to the cold and rare air at
17,200 feet.
Part of the problem staying at that altitude, said Surprenant, “is there is only 54 percent of the oxygen that is available at sea level.”
“Laying in his trench (snow cave) with little movement and the constant cold, he feels his strength and stamina are beginning to deteriorate. The sanitary conditions of the trench are also deteriorating due to the lack of space to relieve himself,” wrote Suprenant in his blog on January 24.
During this time winds reached 80 miles per hour and the temperature hit 50 below.
On January 25 Lonnie got a break from Mother Nature and eight hours later arrived at his camp at 14,200. His plan was to eat, rest, regroup and reassess his options.
In addition to high winds and extreme cold, Dupre also experienced a 5.4 magnitude earthquake. His snow cave was only a few miles from the epicenter.
On January 21, Lonnie felt that a break in the weather would allow for him to attempt a climb for the summit. Denali’s summit is 20,320 feet, and Dupre felt he could reach the top in one day and return to his 17,200 camp. However, the winds and cold only increased, and Dupre stayed in a fight just to stay alive as he was trapped in his tiny shelter.
On January 26, Lonnie reported moderate temperatures (for the mountain) but said that winds had caught his sled a couple of times and “tried to kill him,” blowing him down the mountain. And down the mountain he is coming, hopefully safe and sound.
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