Lonnie Dupre Day 14 -- Windy Weather

The day started at 5am this morning… milling over weather and trying to decide what to do. The early morning calm winds ended, picking up right as Lonnie was dressed and ready to start the climb to 17,200ft. Unfortunately they were bad enough to prevent him from moving up. The image above was taken on our flyover and is showing a lenticular cloud, sign of high winds, over Mt. Hunter.

We’re constantly trying to get a good read on the weather. It’s tough enough to predict weather here in town let alone on a mountain like Denali. Tomorrow looks better, but we won’t know for sure until early morning whether or not Lonnie will be able to travel to 17,200ft camp.

Lonnie spent the day doing getting a little exercise near his snow cave and then spent some more time on his boots. He wound up taking off buckles for unneeded weight and then tore out the boot’s tongue to make more room for his toes. He’s now in his 14,200ft snow cave getting ready to make dinner and hit the sack.

With only a couple of days from the summit, Lonnie’s enthusiasm is contagious. We’re all anticipating a good couple of days of weather and know that when that happens this climb will be a success. We appreciate all the excitement and support from all of you and will let you know what the day brings tomorrow. Upward!