Let’s focus on the success here: climbing solo, AARP-eligible adventurer Lonnie Dupre reached 17,200 feet on Denali, in January. Not to belabor this, but he carried all his food and fuel, alone, to 17,200 feet, in January.
He was planning to reach the 20,320-foot summit today but, as his website reports, “extremely hard snow made it impossible to build a safe snow cave at 17,200, and instead of getting much needed rest, he spent the entire night trying to keep the cave — and himself — warm.” Last night, the temperature inside his snow cave was -35F, which does not sound safe.
So this morning, Dupre made the difficult but prudent decision to head back down, which means he has not succeeded in his third attempt to reach the summit solo in January.
Or maybe the decision wasn’t so difficult. After spending the night at -35F, a summit attempt today would have required him to spend 12 hours hiking up and back. He would then have to spent another night in that miserable, unsafe snow cave. Then on Monday, as he tried to work his way down the mountain, he would have faced 50 mph winds and a -50F windchill. Despite an unfavorable forecast, he would have been compelled to keep moving because his food and fuel are dwindling.
In short, if he were to attempt the summit, “his chance of survival would be minimal.” So the decision, while painful, must have seemed pretty clear.
Keep him in your thoughts as he heads down. And look for him next year. The website doesn’t say anything about a 2014 summit attempt, but we would be very surprised if he doesn’t give it a shot.
