Lonnie Dupre is busy getting everything ready at his base camp in Talkeetna, Alaska, for his next try at climbing Denali (Mount McKinley). Dupre is making his second attempt at conquering Denali in January, the coldest, darkest month of the year. Last year he was 8 hours from the summit when, after 7 days stuck in a snow cave because of extreme weather, he called off his attempt and came back down.
Perhaps the first person to see Santa’s sleigh this Christmas will be local climbing legend Lonnie Dupre.
Dupre will leave his base camp in Talkeetna, Alaska, “Anytime past December 21,” he said, calling from base camp as he was in the process of making last minute preparations for his second attempt at conquering Denali, or Mount McKinley, as some refer to North America’s largest peak which stands 20,340 feet above sea level.
A blizzard last January left him stuck in a small snow cave for seven days while he was a scant eight hours from the mountain’s peak. Too weak to go on, Dupre headed down the mountain to save himself for a second try.
This time around Dupre decided to leave earlier with the hope he won’t run into extreme weather. Not that leaving a week earlier is going to put him in the picnic zone. It’s still going to be bloody cold, down to 50-60 below zero Fahrenheit.
And as for wind, last winter the winds exceeded 100 miles an hour. Maybe it won’t be quite as windy this time, but the winds are still too strong to put up a tent, and Dupre will build small snow caves for his ascent and descent, marking his trail with some of the 300 wands he is going to drop behind him like giant bread crumbs as he hikes and climbs the mountain.
With more than 15,000 miles of Arctic exploration over a 25-year period, Dupre is well suited for this adventure. In the past he has traveled by dog sled, kayak and cross-country skis on his trips, which include circumventing Greenland by dog sled and kayak and skiing and hiking to the North Pole.
While he will hike and climb, he will also cross country ski as he traverses snowfields and glaciers. The skis he will use this time are handmade out of birch by local artisan Mark Hansen, a good friend of Dupre’s.
Food and gear will be dropped by air at several checkpoints. Dupre will also carry supplies with him on his backpack and in his makeshift sled—a 14-foot aluminum ladder he will use to help traverse crevasses.
All told, Dupre will carry and pull 150 pounds of gear for the early part of his journey. It’s a physical grind that will mean he has to consume about 6,000 calories per day to keep his strength up. He will only cook one meal per day, at supper when he hunkers down for the night, so the remaining meals will be consumed cold.
“Right now we’re playing a wait-and-see game with the weather,” said Dupre, who cited a low-pressure system that was keeping the planes on the ground.
“But,” he added, “There is gobs of stuff to do. We’re checking over the electrical gear for the fourth time and making sure we have all of the medical stuff we need. We’re also staying in shape. We have plenty of snow up here—unlike you— and we’re out cross-country skiing every day. It’s all good and it’s all moving forward,” he said.
Dupre will follow almost the same route he took last year with one exception. “Near the summit I might take a steeper pitch. It’s more arduous and more technical but it will save me an hour or two to reach the summit.”
If all goes right, Dupre will reach Denali’s summit sometime mid-January and head back for base camp. He wants to be off of the mountain by February 4. But before that, while the rest of us are gathering with family and friends for Christmas, Dupre will likely be on the mountain and he promised, “If I see Santa’s sleigh, I will wave and make sure to tell him to come to Cook County.”
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