Lonnie made it
Arctic explorer and climber Lonnie Dupre became the first to summit Denali aka Mount McKinley in January – alone.
25 days ago on 12/18/14 Dupre flew to basecamp. With winter winds regularly exceeding 100 miles per hour, temperatures dropping below -60º F, and just six hours of sunlight each day, January is a formidable time on Denali, whose elevation of 20,237 feet makes it North America’s highest mountain. Dupre reached the summit at 17:04(Central) on January 11, 2015.
Denali, whose elevation of 20,237 feet makes it North America’s highest mountain. Dupre flew to the Kahiltna Glacier at the base of Denali on December 18th, 2014 carrying 34 days worth of supplies.
Only nine expeditions, totaling 16 people, have ever reached the Denali summit in winter, and six deaths occurred during those climbs. Of these previous winter expeditions, four were solo, but none was in January, the darkest and coldest time of the year on the mountain. Only a team of three Russian climbers has ever successfully summited Denali in January.
