Dupre to give up McKinley quest

After 19 days alone on Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Grand Marais adventurer Lonnie Dupre is back in the small town of Talkeetna.

An air taxi was able to pick him up from the mountain’s 7,200-foot base camp Monday afternoon. It was from base camp that on Dec. 22 Dupre began his second attempt to become the first person to reach Mount McKinley’s 20,320-foot summit solo in January.

Durpe reached 14,200 feet on Dec. 31. High winds kept him largely pinned there for the next six days. On Friday he decided to abandon the climb, and reached base camp early Monday.

The Duluth News-Tribune reports Dupre said they did everything right, but could not control the weather.

Dupre is quoted as saying, “I don’t think I am going to try Denali again, just because the weather is so fickle. It’s such a roll of the dice these days that I don’t know if it is worth it. You could easily get pinned down at high altitude for 10 days and run out of food and fuel."