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 Herbalife - #1 Nutrition Company in the World Our vision statement: Helping the world get healthy, one person at a time! Team Foster Marketing is proud to be sponsoring Polar Explorer Lonnie Dupre  in his Janurary 2012 solo attempt to climb Denali, aka Mount McKinley , in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain at 20,320 feet. Only one team (comprised of three Russian climbers) has ever made the summit in January…the dead of winter. No solo expedition has reached the summit in January, the darkest and coldest time. If you are interested in more information or purchasing the Herbalife products Lonnie is training with and will be using during his climb, go to our order products page. |
 Denali, aka Mount McKinley, in Alaska, is North America’s highest mountain at 20,320 feet.
Only nine expeditions totaling 16 people have ever reached the summit of Denali in winter. Six deaths resulted from those climbs. Only one team (comprised of three Russian climbers) has ever made the summit in January... the dead of winter. Of those nine original expeditions, four were solo, but none of those individuals have been in January, the darkest and coldest time.
In January 2011 I made a fast ascent to 17,200ft on Denali only to be thwarted there by bad weather, just hours shy of the summit. Huddled in snow cave for almost a week, I waited for a window of stable weather to go to the summit. That day never came. I am going back for another try in late December 2011.
Before arriving to Alaska I spent two and an half weeks training above 9000ft in Colorado. It seemed like there wasn’t a minute to take a breather with all the preparations. I managed to do several high elevation hikes as well as an overnight at 13,000 ft. I’m sure the Park Service wondered what the hell I was doing camping overnight on a mountain that high. Back in Silverthorne I went through personal, medical and repair kits. We tried out our new high definition cameras and put climbing skins on my custom birch skis made by Mark Hansen (founder of North House Folk School). I also purchased key gear like carbon fiber adjustable hiking poles and specific socks for layering in my mountaineering boots. Our friend and host Becky Falch sewed logos from our Lead sponsor Energizer onto expedition clothing and sled cover.
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If your local group or organization is trying to raise money feel free to contact us and we will co-ordinate with you to help you in your efforts. Contact us via email at corefusion@boreal.org or phone at 218-370-9261 I feel ready for the challenge ahead and want to thank all that have helped get me to this point. Thanks to my friend Buck Benson and Buck’s Radio Shack for supporting us with an Iridium satellite phone. Thanks to Energizer for the best headlamp and batteries on the market as well as making this expedition possible through their generous financial contribution. My best to Carl and Beth Foster for introducing me to Herbalife supplements that have helped me in my training. Thanks to fellow Minnesotans Jeff and Susan Gecas, owners of the Gunflint Tavern in Grand Marais for great food and a good time.
And one last thing to add to all the chaos this month is the release of my new book! After nearly 10 years of off and on writing I'm happy to announce the release of my new book “Life on Ice” – 25 years of Arctic Exploration. The 300-page book with a 32-page color insert of images covers all my projects including crossing the Northwest Passage, circumnavigating Greenland and two North Pole expeditions. The book will be available late December and sells for $22 plus shipping. We are taking pre-orders via the expedition website: www.lonniedupre.com and Facebook: facebook.com/lonniedupre
It’s the first time my team (Stevie & Dmitri) and 10 bags of luggage has
assembled all in one place: arriving at the Anchorage airport. From here we made the two-hour car ride to Talkeetna where we unloaded at ‘The Hideaway,’ our basecamp for the expedition. On Friday the 16th we will head back to Anchorage to purchase any last minute supplies and for a presentation I will be giving at REI at 6 pm. We will return to Talkeetna on the 17th to undergo final prep i.e. making wands for marking the route, checking extended weather forecasts and going over protocol while I'm gone on the mountain. I expect to fly to the mountain around 1:00pm on the 21st of December (winter solstice), that is, weather permitting.
Thank you,
Lonnie Dupre
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Update for 12/30/11 - Day 9 Lonnie checked in at about 7:30pm this evening. He’s doing great and is working on hauling his gear to a higher elevation in preparations for the next 8 or 9 days. The picture above Lonnie sent us recently from Denali is from his MTA cell phone.When speaking with Lonnie this morning he mentioned that he was going to take it pretty easy due to the fact that he hadn’t slept at all the previous night.We’ll be speaking with him at some point tomorrow evening and will be able to update with more detail at that time. Meanwhile, we’d like to share a few wonderful recent news pieces done on Lonnie’s Polar Climb 1:KTNA: Lonnie Dupre ready for 2nd Solo try for Denali in Darkest Month MPR: The things we’d do if we couldREI: Lonnie Dupre Begins Solo Winter Attempt on DenaliUntil next time, upward! Update for 12/29/11 - Day 8 Yesterday Danial Doty with Talkeetna Air Taxi happened to fly over Lonnie and captured this wonderful image of him and his sled (dark spot in middle of photo) traveling up to 11,200ft. Today Lonnie will be taxing half of his gear up to the 12,300ft camp. He will then return to the 11,200ft camp tonight and then carrying the remainder of his gear back up to 12,300ft tomorrow. We received coordinates at about 2pm today with Lonnie’s location at 12,300ft where he will also be collecting rock samples. These samples are for scientist Dragos Zaharescu from the Biosphere 2 project at the University of Arizona. Dupre is partnering with Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation to collect microbe samples; helping to gain unique insights into the functioning of extreme environments.  “The goal of the data collection is to help scientists understand how nutrient cycling is affected by climate change. Basically, this means we can begin to understand how climate change will affect the production of living matter in extreme environments.” -Lonnie Dupre Knowledge of this process is also likely to reveal vital clues about the evolution of microbes-rock interaction in these extreme boundary environments and its potential response to alterations in the environmental equilibrium such as climate change.We will be in correspondence with Lonnie at some point tomorrow evening when he returns to his 12,300ft camp and will then update with details. Update from Lonnie's website for 12/28/2011 - Day 7  Lonnie made the long haul from 9,600ft to 11,200ft today. Weather included variable winds and limited visibility. None the less he pushed onward. It might have been something to do with spending the last 36 hours stuck inside a snow cave. On the good side, Dupre said he was able to fit in a whopping 15 hours of sleep within that time. Well rested, he started packing up at about 6:30am for his next camp.Lonnie’s is now tucked away in a new snow cave cooking up a little Mountain House meal.Tomorrow, with promising weather Lonnie will most likely be moving on.Right now it’s about -40 degrees outside on the mountain. Lonnie said he can keep his snow cave heated to about 30 degrees and claims it is warm enough for him. Traveling during the day he keeps warm by moving constantly. He only rests and takes his pack off once a day. That’s usually just to get more bamboo wands out of his sled for flagging. He remains in good spirits and appreciates everyone sending prayers and well wishes his way. Until tomorrow… Upward!
Posted from Alaska, United States. Update from Lonnie's website: 12/25/2011 Lonnie spent Christmas day cuddled in his snow cave, Christmas tree and all. The weather wasn’t horrible, but not optimal for travel with the limited visibility. He decided to take the chance at having a little down time and preparing for his next push up to 9,500 feet on the upper Kahiltna where he hopes to be at by tomorrow evening. He continues to probe every step of the way on the upper Kahiltna followed by leaving his bamboo wands as markers.When we received the call he was cooking chicken noodle soup and having tea. Then there’s chocolate for dinner, of course.Dupre was in great spirit and wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Go to Lonnie's website for an audio message |
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