Friday, January 16, 2015

Lonnie Dupre Successfully Completes Solo January Summit of Denali

On his fourth attempt, after years of struggles and bad luck, Lonnie Dupre finally manages to complete his solo summit of Denali in January, the coldest month on the mountain. A January summit of Denali has been completed only once before, by a Russian team. This is the first successful solo attempt.

At 5:04 pm (central time) on January 11, 2015, Lonnie Dupre summated Denali, confirmed by a SPOT locator.

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The above picture was taken during the descent from an airplane by John Walter Whittier. In the right corner you see the edge of the airplane wing. If you look very closely at the mountain side, you will see a white spot, which is Dupre’s headlamp as he descends from the summit in darkness.

Dupre started out from base camp on December 18, 2014. On the lower elevations he pulled a sled with 165lb of supplies.

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Once above the Kahiltna Glacier, he transitioning to packs for higher elevation.

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According to my count, he reached the summit of Denali 25 days after leaving base camp.

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On some of his previous attempts Dupre relied only on snow shelters rather than a tent. On this attempt I understand he carrier a Hilleberg Soulo tent, although from the pictures he has posted I’ve only seen snow shelters. He also seems to be using Granite Gear packs, Granite Gear being a sponsor.

Yesterday, January 15, 2015, Lonnie Dupre finally made it back to base camp, nearly a month after starting his attempt.

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It is indeed an amazing achievement, many years in the making. You can find a more detailed account of his journey on his site here. If cold weather travel is your thing, his book Life on Ice is excellent in my opinion and well worth a look.

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