Lonnie is on the Mountain and climbing

Lonnie Dupre, the adventurer from Grand Marais, is making steady progress toward the summit of Mount McKinley, according to his base team.
By late Saturday, Dupre had reached about 14,200 feet, a place called Windy Corner, where he planned to spend New Year’s Day resting, charging all electronics and organizing all supplies for high camp.

He is spending today organizing gear, food and fuel for high camp. He will spend tomorrow taxiing three quarters of his gear up the headwall to 16,000 feet and then return to 14,200 feet to spend the night. After that he will take the remainder of his gear and move up to high camp at 17,200. This will also allow him to acclimatize properly in prevention of pulmonary edema.

The summit of Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, is 20,320 feet; it’s the highest peak in North America.

Once Dupre climbed above Windy Corner, he encountered numerous, large crevasses from where the Birchron Glacier comes off of Denali. Dupre, 50, is attempting to be the first person to reach the summit of Mount McKinley solo in January. He began the climb Dec. 22 after a plane dropped him off at 7,200 feet.

Dupre tried climbing McKinley last winter, but bad weather stopped him at 17,200 feet. Dupre plans to make the summit attempt from 17,200 feet this time around, but would have only a week to wait out bad weather at that elevation.