Climb Denali in January

[jfeiro]

Lonnie Dupre of Grand Marais knows full well what he

[CarpeyBiggs]

this is kind of misleading. first person to climb in january? first solo in winter? or is it first solo in january?

seems like splitting hairs. it's been climbed in january. it's been soloed in winter. maybe not soloed in january?

crazy amount of risk though, hope he survives. certainly he knows about naomi uemura, although i guess that was early february, not january.

[denaliguide]

definitely splitting hairs. it has been soloed in the winter unsuccessfully by naomi uemura (he disappeared on the descent), successfully by my good friend and fellow guide vern tejas, and it has been climbed in january by the team of russians, (these guys were all very experienced mountaineers).

after 23 expeditions and 13 summits (one a solo from 14,000), more multi-day tent shredding storms at 17.200 than i can remember, and participating in numerous rescues over the years as a guide on denali, i think i have a pretty good handle on what he's in for. cold, dark and lonely. no one to break trail, no rangers at the 14,000 camp if things go wrong, no margin for error. in the summer i have referred to the west buttress as winter camping at altitude. in the winter this will be a different beast entirely. lower on the mountain he probably won't have too much difficulty (other than the bitter cold, extremely short days, and breaking trail up both ski hill and motorcycle hill, all while wearing a ladder and towing a heavy sled. ) but up above 14,000 the fixed lines on the headwall will be buried requiring him to actually climb from about 15,000 to 16,200, and doing the ridge above it in the dark will be interesting to say the least.

i wish him the best of luck. if it wasn't for guys with his attitude, major arctic exploration would have never taken place.

denali from 8,000


breaking camp at 8,000


windy corner


storm at 14,000


denali halo from 14,000 camp


14,000 rangers camp


looking down the headwall


washburns thumb


looking across towards 17,200


denali pass


the autobahn


summit 2004

[Brian in SLC]

This will be fun to watch, but, from a distance! Brrr.... I think the lack of daylight would be a bummer....

"Climbers who die on Denali in the winter typically do so because they are unable to self-arrest after slipping off an icy ridge, Dupre said."

Hmm..."typically"? Well, there's only been six winter fatalities, so, they're easy to list:

Jacques Batkin in '67 on the first winter ascent. Fell into a crevasse near base camp.

Robert Frank in '83 who fell returning from the summit.

Naomi Uemura in '84 disappeared after summiting. Never been found.

3 Japanese climbers blown off Denali Pass and "flash frozen" in '89.

So, really, there has been no "typical" way to die on Denali in the winter. I think not being able to self arrest after falling is the feller's biggest fear. And, that's not a winter or summer thing. Be a hard thing to execute on a 50 degree icy slope in any season. So, don't fall.

Wonder how high they're flying in? Probably main Kahiltna, near the NE fork? Dunno.

Brrr!

[denaliguide]

i am sure they will be flying in to the SE fork at 7,200. the NE fork is inside the wilderness and they only land there if there are special circumstances. don't think this qualifies.

[CarpeyBiggs]

amazing photos denaliguide. someday, i want to winter camp at altitude...

[Brian in SLC]

i am sure they will be flying in to the SE fork at 7,200. the NE fork is inside the wilderness and they only land there if there are special circumstances. don't think this qualifies.

Probably right. Seems like the other winter folks in recent times fly into the standard strip there. I know they used to pluck folks up near 10k or so when the conditions, late in the season, made the SE fork nasty.

Remember Trigger and his winter attempt? Ha ha.

Great shots!

Got a great view in late October a couple years ago on a flight from ANC to Fairbanks. Looked cold!

I'd think with skis, you might get away with not carrying a huge ladder. We skied un-roped from the 11k camp to the airstrip (and down Heartbreak from the airstrip). Sweet. Made great time. 17k after summiting, the following day, to the airstrip in 9 hours. Did Tejas use skis? Doesn't seem so (don't see any reference to it in Dangerous Steps).

I'll reiterate: brrr! Makes me want to eat a stick of butter.

Good luck to him. On paper, I'm not sure his odds are that good...

[DiscGo]

I wish this guy well, but it seems like he will either turn back, or die before he summits.

[denaliguide]

Remember Trigger and his winter attempt? Ha ha.

i knew trigger as well. he was a talkeetna local. i don't think many remember that attempt. that was a crazy idea he and arthur testov had. arthur was one of the 3 russians who did summit in january. unfortunately arthur and trigger picked one of the coldest winters in years to attempt the wickersham wall. they never even made it on to the route. it was so cold their whisky froze and finally had to give it up when the whiskey ran out after 3 weeks.

and if i remember correctly vern used the ladder trick as well. i don't think skis would provide enough surface area on the ascent. it's the speed on the descent which helps with safety. i have traveled unroped up and down the kahlitna several times, only got away with it by luck. i have also taken several drops into slots over the years, even on the trade route up the west buttress, fortunately i was roped for all of those.

glad you all liked the shots. after 23 expeditions i have combined all my shots into one slideshow of perfect weather. quickest summit was was 11 days, longest was 26 days.

[Brian in SLC]

and if i remember correctly vern used the ladder trick as well. i don't think skis would provide enough surface area on the ascent. it's the speed on the descent which helps with safety. i have traveled unroped up and down the kahlitna several times, only got away with it by luck. i have also taken several drops into slots over the years, even on the trade route up the west buttress, fortunately i was roped for all of those.

Yeah, he used a ladder, but, maybe not skis.

Not sure what you mean by lack of surface area. They bridge slots well, and, really spread the weight out over long distance (compared to bootin', for sure). Plus, on the way down...fun.

That's a lot of trips up the hill. How's that go? "A wise man climbs Mount Fuji once..." Ha ha!

Winter solo of Logan...wonder if that's been done. Probably not...

Wonder what ever happened to Trigger. Seemed like he kinda faded away after that winter attempt. We ran into him in '96. Didn't see him in '98 or after (6 trips in the AK range for me, speakin' of Mt Fuji...). What a character.

Crazy stuff. I'll say it again...brrr!

[denaliguide]

what i meant was that going up hill is real slow so your weight is on one spot longer. while skis do have good surface area a lot of the slots on the lower kahiltna are much wider that a pair of skis are long, even worse if you are unknowingly traveling parallel to the slot. a 14' ladder will have a better chance of bridging any gap and allowing you to crawl along the ladder if you fall in. if you fall in with skis you aren't going to have much of a chance. you know that you are going to need either skis or snowshoes as well as the ladder to travel the glacier. no way you would just post hole your way up the mountain. so with that in mind i think having skis would be better. we always traveled with snowshoes simply because when you have skiers of different abilities roped together it is just a mess.

not to mention if the visibility is reduced you can walk right into a big open hole without even seeing it. (voice of experience) i should have seen that the wands went left in the whiteout. opps, i didn't. amazing how fast the ground can drop out from under you. oh yea, he won't have any wands to follow either. and i pity him having to break trail. i can remember one trip where i was one of the first parties of the season. it took 9 hours to break trail from the bottom of ski hill to kahiltna pass. plus the double carries. i can't imagine getting all his gear in a single carry. one advantage of double carries though is more time to acclimatize.

well it took me many years to acheive enlightenment and wisdom. i am now a pilot here in new zealand and spend my time looking down at the poor climbers on the glaciers.

winter solo of logan? there you go. don't forget that is a much longer approach. send me a postcard.

[denaliguide]

i had almost forgot about this guy. looks like he is planning to summit tomorrow. he's made good time actually. and has been at 17.200 3 days. so, he should be pretty well acclimated for his summit push. good luck to him.

http://lonnieduprepolarexplorer.blogspot.com/

[denaliguide]

well he's stuck at 17,200. been there 6 days. most i have been stuck there was 9 days on 2004 and it sucks!! high winds preventing travel up or down. sucks to be him.

[Felicia]

What do you do with all that idle time?

[DOSS]

What do you do with all that idle time?

Sleep, read, write - repeat

[Brian in SLC]

What do you do with all that idle time?

Day dream, about night things, in the middle of the afternoon...

I do ok with the hang. Drives some folks nuts. You can get really good radio reception up high on Denali, so, if he has an am/fm radio, he'll at least have some external entertainment. "Come on down to Chilkoot Charlies for happy hour". Those kinda hurt.

My being stuck at high camp record was 11 days on St. Elias. Ugh. Windy, but, not much snow. Made for a grim retreat (no food, bad conditions).

I think next worse was the Surprise Glacier, way out west in the AK range. 7 day trip turned into 16. Really got bad when we ran out of beer...

Hopefully he's got the food/fuel to wait it out. Amazing progress so far. He's got a few more days in January...

[jfeiro]

Grand Marais climber begins Denali descent short of summit

Lonnie Dupre had hoped to become the first solo climber to reach the summit of Denali in January. He might try again after regrouping at a lower camp.By: Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune

• Lonnie Dupre
  Lonnie Dupre
• West Buttress
  Climbers advance on the narrow path along the West Buttress route at 16,500 feet on Alaska's Denali in this photo from a June 2010 climb. Lonnie Dupre of Grand Marais was descending along this route Tuesday after being pinned down by high winds at 17,200 feet for six days. (Lonnie Dupre photo)

More...

• Punishing weather halts Grand Marais climber

Lonnie Dupre has left his dank snow trench at 17,200 feet and is downbound on Alaska

[denaliguide]

a couple of observations.

one. after being stormed in at 17,200 for 6 days is tough, physically and mentally, especially solo. but to then come down 14,000 for a few days, try to recover a bit of health and then go back up? to even consider it is impressive. not many are that strong willed. we will see how that plays out. it is just so easy to keep going down hill.

two. i have made the trip between 14,000 and 17,200 over 40 times. all but 5 times i have been tied to at least 2 other climbers. with a group of clients this trip is very slow and tedious, and usually it's a 10 hour trip up with a group, placing protection the whole way. coming down average is 5 hours. i know, i know, it's dark and cold and conditions suck. but if it takes him 10 hours to come down he would almost have to be walking backwards. i can't imagine how being solo hasn't been faster.

[tanya]

a couple of observations.

two. i have made the trip between 14,000 and 17,200 over 40 times. all but 5 times i have been tied to at least 2 other climbers. with a group of clients this trip is very slow and tedious, and usually it's a 10 hour trip up with a group, placing protection the whole way. coming down average is 5 hours. i know, i know, it's dark and cold and conditions suck. but if it takes him 10 hours to come down he would almost have to be walking backwards. i can't imagine how being solo hasn't been faster.

You are so hot! Do that, fly and look so good! (A bit off topic. Sorry) Back to the story....

[Brian in SLC]

coming down average is 5 hours. i know, i know, it's dark and cold and conditions suck. but if it takes him 10 hours to come down he would almost have to be walking backwards. i can't imagine how being solo hasn't been faster.

Having only done it a couple times, yeah, that seems slow to me too.

We got from the 17k camp to the airstrip in 9.5 hours. Then waited out a 5 day storm as the last plane left empty as we skied up to it. Pilot made some excuse about having to stop in the Ruth, but, we heard later that he and our service were having a spat, and, we got stuck (literally!) in the middle of it. Wasn't happy about it, but...

Gotta be pretty motivated to head back up. More than likely, he won't get this done in January.

Sounds like he had a weather window. Understand being demoralized from being cave bound, but, I've been cave bound for a number of days and a person can still go up if the desire is strong enough. Wonder why he didn't at least give it a shot. I guess the terrain that most folks have trouble with is that traverse to Denali Pass. If he was worried about falling, then, I guess that is on the front end of a summit push. After Denali Pass, its pretty hiker terrain. The last steep up is short and not nearly as exposed down to the football field. Might make a difference what your comfort level is on steeper alpine type ice/snow.

Pretty common to get pinned by weather up there for a few days. Part of the game.

Be great to see him rally and head up.