Weather turns back Lonnie Dupre's ride home

After becoming the first solo climber to reach the summit of Denali in the month of January, Lonnie Dupre will be spending at least one more night on the mountain after weather forced his ride to turn back.  KTNA’s Phillip Manning was along for the attempted pick-up, and has more:

When it comes to getting in and out of base camp on Denali, nearly everyone travels by airplane.  That was the plan on Wednesday.  Climber Lonnie Dupre was expected to reach base camp by the early afternoon, and two planes were going to meet him, caring sponsors, support crew, and reporters.  The weather was clear, but a system was obviously moving in from the south.  After one final check-in with Lonnie Dupre by satellite phone, Talkeetna Air Taxi pilot Paul Roderick set off.

The flight started fairly smoothly, but as the plane entered the Alaska Range, turbulence began to pick up.

“Make sure you hang onto your stuff, because we’re going to cross into the Kahiltna [Glacier], and it’s going to get a little bumpy.”

That’s Paul Roderick.  Once the plane was sheltered by the mountains, things smoothed out again, but then word came that it wasn’t looking good to pick up Lonnie Dupre.  Paul Roderick learned that it was still quite windy at base camp.

“Usually over fifteen-or-twenty-knot tailwind we don’t land, and our pilot who was just up there reported that it was probably at least thirty, so probably not landing conditions at this point.  And, the weather is just slowly deteriorating.”

Paul Roderick made multiple passes, but wasn’t able to even get close to the landing zone.  Lonnie Dupre was visible out the window of the turbine Otter, but only just.  With Dupre just minutes away from base camp, Paul Roderick was forced to call it a day.

“So close…There he is [on the] left side.  I think we’re out of here.”

Safely back on the ground in Talkeetna, Paul Roderick says he wasn’t even tempted to try the landing.

“You can just tell it wasn’t a day to land.  It’s possible we could have pulled the landing off, but then you have to take off with a thirty-or-forty-knot tailwind, which is nearly impossible to do.”

Lonnie Dupre has supplies stashed at base camp, and should have enough to last a week.  That’s a good thing, since Paul Roderick says the forecast is not favorable.

“The modeling is showing that this flow is going to continue, and we might get a window to work with.  Fortunately, we’ve got Lonnie there on the ground, and he can report wind and weather…but the forecast doesn’t look that great in the next day, or two, or three.”

Veteran Denali climber Dave Johnston says that he and the rest of the Talkeetna climbing community were pleasantly surprised that Dupre succeeded in his fourth January attempt on the mountain.

“We were really surprised he made it, because [former Denali guide] Brian Okonek was seeing snow plumes coming off the summit that day.  We didn’t think it was a summit day, but he whipped up there and he whipped down fast.”

Dave Johnston was waiting at the airport for Lonnie Dupre’s return.  When Dupre does make it down, Johnston says there will be a warm welcome waiting for him.

“The moose stew is on and the sauna is hot…well…getting hot.”

Make that a very warm welcome.