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Minnesotan spends week hunkered down before quitting.

For the second straight winter, Minnesota adventurer Lonnie Dupre is calling it quits on Mount McKinley after spending a week in a tiny snow cave while waiting for a break in the weather that never materialized.

Dupre, 50, spent seven days and six nights at 14,200 feet in his second effort to become the first person to make a solo January ascent of the 20,320-foot mountain.

Battling wind gusts that nearly reached 100 mph, according to his website, Dupre began his descent Friday, leaving behind the snow cave in which he spent a week hoping for the wind to subside and visibility to clear enough for him to continue moving up.

"I was forced to make the decision to descend after receiving word that there was another week of the daunting weather around the corner. You just can't climb being blown off your feet," Dupre said in a report from project coordinator Stevie Anna Plummer.

Last January, Dupre made it to 17,200 feet before visibility became an issue and forced him to hunker down for seven days. By the time he got a break in the weather, his body was so weak from spending so much time at high altitude that instead of resuming his ascent, he headed down the mountain.

This time, he holed up at a lower altitude and remained strong and healthy throughout a wind-swept week, Plummer said.

Dupre's climb began Dec. 22 when he was dropped off at the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Glacier base camp -- which is deserted during the winter -- with enough food and fuel to last a month.

On Friday, Dupre endured a long day during which he descended from 14,200 feet to 11,200 amid howling winds. The wind became ferocious on Thursday, with gusts of 97 mph reported by NOAA Aviation, according to Plummer.

"On his descent (Friday), Lonnie managed to get around Windy Corner without being blown off his feet by using both ice axes and crampons to dig in as the gusts would hit him," Plummer reported. "He then proceeded down Squirrel Hill, an icy slope at 12,000 feet, in the dark. The gusts were up to 80 mph and blew Lonnie off his feet, but was able to self arrest.

"He then had to down-climb the remaining three-quarters of Squirrel Hill backwards daggering with both ice axes and using crampons to prevent being blown off his feet again."

Before making the decision to descend, Dupre's time at 14,200 feet was spent mostly inside the snow cave he built, which Plummer said measured four feet by four feet, with occasional ventures outside to secure gear and check on the exterior of the snow cave.

"At about 1:30 a.m. (Friday), Lonnie spent an entire hour in the heavy winds outside securing gear and making sure the snow cave was not being effected by the extreme winds. The winds were so strong that the snow was literally being picked up and thrown into Lonnie's face, almost suffocating him," Plummer reported.

Few people have succeeded summiting Denali during the winter -- alone or in groups -- and only once has the mountain been climbed in the dead of winter in January, when daylight is scarce and weather is sometimes lethally brutal.

A team of two Russians made a January ascent in 1998 and only 14 others have stood atop North America's highest peak in the winter, a stretch defined by the National Park Service as running from the Dec. 21 winter solstice to the March 21 spring equinox.

By BETH BRAGG

Anchorage Daily News

Published: January 8th, 2012 07:43 PM

7 Summits, hello! This is Dmitry Ermakov from Antarctica. Today is the first day of our journey on the program Last Degree. After three days of waiting, the plane took us to the 89 degrees mark. Today we went about four kilometers. Now we are eating, getting ready for bed. Everything is okay, all right. Members feel good. In general, everything goes according to the plan. By !

This is Alex Abramov from Punta Arenas. We have a very important message. Victor Boboc with the entire team successfully climbed the summit of Massif Vinson. That means, all members of the second team, as well as the first one, summited Vinson Massif. Hooray! Next, Dima Ermakov is on the Union Glacier. Tomorrow his team should begin their journey Last Degree. In parallel, seven international teams will go. This will be a beautiful international campaign to the South Pole. I and Lyuda Korobeshko with a team of Russian IL-76 pilots celebrate Russian Christmas. Bye all!

Hello! This is Marina Nemirova from Vietnam. The town of Sapa met us by fog. And by torrential tropical rain. But despite the bad weather, on January 5 we reached the summit of Fansipan. This is “the roof" of Indochina. Now we are back to the hotel in Sapa. Tomorrow we will see other local sights. In the evening we fly to Hanoi and will continue to explore the country.

Hello! Olga Rumyantseva from Mendoza. Today our expedition to Aconcagua started. This is the first group of 7 Summits Club in this season. Most of the participants arrived in Mendoza by different ways. Now we get together and go try local wines and meat. When the other members arrive, we'll go to the entrance to Aconcagua National Park.

Bobok phones from Antarctica. We are all fine, we're sitting in the middle camp. Yesterday we went, have left food and equipment to the assault camp. Weather worsens. The forecast is bad, we'll sit for 2 days, most likely in the Middle Camp. Drink tea ... total lack of visibility. There is no sun, so cold.We are warming ourselves, as we can. All alcohol is off. Now there is only tea ...

What will be the main event in the coming year? This is not the London Olympics, not the NATO aggression in Syria, did not fall of the euro, not the presidential elections in Russia and did not even winter K2 ... Opening of the Higgs boson? No, much more interesting. This, of course, the End of the World. As always, according to the dialectic, there are good and bad news. Good in this case is that it is the exact date of the End - December 21. That means we have almost a year ahead! You can and should do everything: climb the Seven Summits and plant a tree, look at elephants in Africa and raise a son, build a house and reach the two poles of the earth.

Ideas on how to spend a year of The End of the World, can be millions. A lot of them are listed on our site.

Keep optimistic attitude to life, work with real enthusiasm ! And just believe that good professionals will be needed even after the end of the world ...

With respect and love,

7 Sunmmits Club

Victor Boboc phones from  Antarctica. December 31, a group of 7 Summits Club went on acclimatization outing and returned to the Vinson Massif base camp. Now they are preparing for the New Year Eve. First, the New Year will be celebrated at the time of Hong Kong. Then at Moscow and at the Chilean-time...

1. Ko Kan Fai - Hong Kong

2. Liu Wai Ming Haston - Hong Kong

3.  Alexander  Viktorov

4.  Igor Demjanenko

5.  Sergey Dudko

6.  Dmitry Krasnov

7.  Dzhamilja Murtazina

8.  Igor Tcherkashin

Guide 1 - Bobok Victor

Guide 2 - Tsang Chi Sing John - Hong Kong

Hello from sunny Australia! Today our team had climbed the summit of Mount Kosciuszko. We descended safely and now we are celebrating our achievement. Several people in our team, by this climb, came close to the finish of Seven Summits program, because now they have six summits. Volodya Stepashko lacks only Everest. Mikhail Turovsky and Vadim Nadvodnyuk - has yet to climb Mount McKinley. The mood of team is very good. We left Sydney behind us. We have already met with all kangaroos and wombats.. Everything is OK.

Congratulations for the New Year! We kiss and hug ! Sergei Kofanov. 7 Summits team. From Australia.

12/29/2011 Lyudmila Korobeshko, George Kuzmin and Alexander Viktorov from 7 Summits Club expedition reached the South Pole. The last two days have been quite heavy and intense. Alexander Viktorov was patient with his foot, and then George suddenly fall ill. All plans have been violated. It is especially valuable that the group was able to reach the Pole without help of plane...

Russia and France have officially registered the joint venture for the development of the North Caucasus tourism cluster.

The joint venture, called International Caucasus Development, will begin to work in February 2012. According to the shareholder agreement, which was signed by the parties, joint venture plans to bring in 2012 into the tourism cluster of up to 1 billion euros of investments.

The authorized capital of joint venture will be 10 million euros, of which 51% - will be the share of "NCR" corporation and 49% - of the French side. The Board of Directors will consist of four representatives from each of the parties and will be headed by a representative of the Russian side. Director General of Joint venture will be a representative of France. For a comprehensive assessment of investment projects under the joint venture will be established Technical Board, which would include leading experts from Russia and France.

The joint venture will carry out international coordinating role for the development of the concept and construction of the North Caucasus tourism cluster. The venture will create a system of sales of investment products, will develop business plans for the project and will involve foreign investors. Joint venture will also make a comprehensive review of all projects being prepared for implementation and will transfer them to international standards of quality in all parameters - economic, environmental, technical, social, infrastructure, architecture, etc.

According to the French side, this approach will allow Joint venture to raise up to 15-20 billion euros of foreign investments in the projects of North Caucasus Federal District.

The initiative of joint work in the North Caucasus belongs to the Russian and French presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy. On May 26, 2011 at Deauville, the two leaders made a statement in which the joint development of resorts in the North Caucasus has been identified as a strategic priority of the Franco-Russian strategic partnership.

In this initiative, on June 17, 2011 OJSC "Resorts of the North Caucasus" and Caisse des Depots et Consignations have signed a framework cooperation agreement, in September 2011 – pre-shareholder agreement and on 9 December 2011 in Brussels was signed a shareholder agreement establishing the joint venture. As a result the company was officially registered in Netherlands.

The project of the tourism cluster in the south of Russia in 2011-2020 includes the construction of five world-class mountain resorts: Lagonaki (Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Adygea), Arkhyz (Karachay-Cherkessia), Elbrus-Bezengi (Kabardino-Balkaria), Mamison (Republic of North Ossetia - Alania), Matlas (Republic of Dagestan). The planned total length of ski runs will be almost 900 km and they will have 179 ski lifts. The hotels with varying comfort levels will accommodate 89 000 people. Daily throughput of the resorts will reach 150 500 people and each year the North Caucasus tourist cluster will be visited by 5 to 10 million tourists. The project involves phased implementation of over 330 thousand jobs in the region.

The total cost of the ski project is estimated at 451 billion rubles. The project is financed by a public-private partnership. Government invests via NCR 60 billion rubles in transport and utilities infrastructure, private business is financing the facilities of resort infrastructure.

Russian government is considering the inclusion of the coastal area of the Caspian Sea (Dagestan), Caucasus Mineral Waters (Stavropol Territory) and the Republic of Ingushetia to the North Caucasus tourism cluster project.

 http://www.ncrc.ru/e/

A 15-year-old American has become the youngest person to climb the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, completing the feat by summiting Antarctica's Mount Vinson over the weekend.

Jordan Romero, who last year at age 13 became the youngest person to climb the world's tallest peak Mt. Everest, was descending to base camp Sunday after reaching the summit of Vinson Massif with a team that included his father and his stepmother, according to his team's website.

 "We're at the roof of Antarctica," a member of Team Jordan said in a webcast from near the 16,067-foot (4,897-meter) peak on a frigid but "legendary day."

Romero beat the record previously held by Britain's George Atkinson, who in May completed the seven ascents at age 16.

 Romero has been hooked on climbing from an early age. When he was just 10, he become the youngest person to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak at 19,341 feet (5,895 meters).

Before his 11th birthday, he had another world record under his belt, summiting Europe's Mt. Elbrus, in Russia's Caucasus mountains in July 2007.

Five months later, it was the 22,841-foot (6,962-foot) Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, followed by Alaska's Mt. McKinley at 20,320 feet (6,194 meters).

In September 2009 at age 11, he climbed Indonesia's Carstensz Pyramid, at 16,023 feet (6,194 meters) the tallest island peak in the world, breaking another record.

Eight months later in May 2010, he climbed Everest, and ever since he and his team had been preparing for his Antarctic expedition.

"Looking forward to tomorrow, and we'll make you guys proud and promise we'll come back home safe and sound," Romero said in a webcast Saturday, hours before he began the final ascent to Mt. Vinson's summit.

The team had intended to reach the top on Christmas Day, but ideal weather and good progress allowed them to summit a day ahead of schedule.

Our guides Dima Ermakov and Viсtor Bobok have send a short message from the slopes of Mount Vinson. Today their group had climbed the top of the tallest summit of Antarctica. At the top there were five members and two guides. Members: Konstantin Beirit, Pavel Kostrikin, Ivan Rudenko (Russia), Yury Lukjanov – (father and daughter from Kazakhstan).

Seven Summits Club, hello! Dmitry Ermakov and Victor Boboc from under the Vinson massif. Yesterday, we arrived safely at the Vinson base camp ... and now we are making comfort accommodation here. Today we are going to go to the first outing…

….

I Vinson (16-29 Dec). Mount Vinson. The tallest of Antarctica.

1 Beirit Konstantin

2 Kostrikin Pavel

3 Lukjanov Yury - Kazakhstan

4 Lukjanova Nadezhda - Kazakhstan

5 Rudenko Ivan

The guide 1 - Bobok Victor

The guide 2 - Ermakov Dmitry

Lyudmila Korobeshko from 7 Summits Club expedition to the South Pole on skis ... So today, December 19, our small group, it's Sasha Viktorov, George Kuzmin and Lyudmila Korobeshko, are still located on Union Glacier. Yesterday we said goodbye to our group, which flew up the base camp of Mount Vinson. We are waiting for our flight to the "Last degree" and made an outing to the glacier. We did a test for skis and sleds. We are even a little pleased that lingers in the Union Glacier camp, because we are wellfed. All feel great. We look forward to tomorrow's departure. Bye everyone!

7 December 2011: Remarkable records were set across the board at the seventh running of the Antarctic Ice Marathon races, the southernmost marathon in the world, over the weekend. More than 40 competitors from 15 countries gathered on the frozen continent to take part in half,-marathon, marathon and ultramarathon races that would test the resolve of the most steely of running enthusiasts.

The events, which are held at Union Glacier camp, are the only official foot races within the Antarctic Circle on the mainland continent. This year’s event was particularly special as it coincided with the Centenary year of Man reaching the South Pole. On 1 December, Clement Thevenet (FRA) dominated the men’s marathon (42.195km) distance when running a record time of 3:47:07. In amazingly bright sunshine and temperatures of -18C, the Frenchman led from start to finish to take the title ahead of the USA’s Alvin Matthews and Matthew Von Ertfelda.

Yvonne Brown (GBR) was a worthy winner of the women’s race in 4:26:10, finishing ahead of two previous North Pole Marathon winners, Emer Dooley (IRL) and Alison Hamlett (GBR). The first three finishers broke the previous female record.

On 2 December, the Antarctic 100km began at 13:00 GMT and it took Thevenet a mere 12:09:06 hrs, another new Antarctic record, to add the title to his marathon victory. It was a colder affair with windchill temperatures dropping down to about -25C and the prolonged exposure causing two competitors , including Thevenet, requiring IV fluids after the race. Former winner, Mark de Keyser (BEL) was a very close second with Dave Deany (AUS) third.

To round off the record setting weekend, Richard Donovan (IRL) ran an epic 100 miles in a day (24:35:02 hrs) to coincide with the Centenary year celebrations. Darkness was not a problem for the Irishman as there are 24 hours of daylight in the interior of the Antarctic at this time of year.

Registration is now open for next year's Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100k trip, which is scheduled to occur from 19th - 23rd November 2012. For full details, see www.icemarathon.com.

MEN'S MARATHON

1. Clement Thevenet (FRA) - 3:47:07 hrs

2. Alvin Matthews (USA) - 4:38:19 hrs

3. Matthew Von Ertfelda (USA) - 4:52:58 hrs

4. Simon Abrahams (GBR) - 4:56:49 hrs

4. Joey McBreary (USA) - 4:56:49 hrs

6. Krzysztof Szachna (POL) - 5:02:50 hrs

7. Dave Kennedy (USA) - 5:06:42 hrs

8. Errol Damelin (GBR) - 5:14:30 hrs

9. Taco Jongman (NED) - 5:23:00 hrs

10. Doug Carrell (USA) - 5:44:26 hrs

11. Christopher Duff (USA) - 5:53:58 hrs

12. Rusty Berther (AUS) - 6:02:12 hrs

13. Ray Miller (USA) - 6:16:29 hrs

14. Riet Van de Velde (BEL) - 6:28:31 hrs

15. Ladislav Simek (CZE) - 6:29:52 hrs

16. Michael Parrott (CAN) - 6:39:06 hrs

17. Michael Bartl (GER) - 6:51:46 hrs

18. Jeremy Cashen (NZL) - 7:28:10

19. Tom Cashen (NZL) - 7:28:11 hrs

20. Mark Kooijman (PHI) - 7:31:18 hrs

21. Don Kern (USA) - 7:53:38 hrs

22. Sebastian Armenault (ARG) - 8:09:41 hrs

23. Anand Anantharaman (IND) - 8:45:40 hrs

* George Nichols (USA) ran a marathon on 2 December in 8:30:12 hrs

WOMEN'S MARATHON

1. Yvonne Brown (GBR) - 4:26:10 hrs

2. Emer Dooley (IRL) - 4:41:30 hrs

3. Alison Hamlett (GBR)- 4:46:39

4. Elizabeth Chapman (GBR) - 5:43:57 hrs

5. Sarah Ames (GER)- 6:35:58

6. Mala Honnatti (IND)- 7:11:26

7. Sophie Woo (NED) - 7:31:18 hrs

8. Rebecca Frechette (USA)- 8:43:50

9. Linh Huynh (CAN)- 8:44:53

* Bonnie Bailey (USA) ran a marathon on 2 December in 8:30:12 hrs

ANTARCTIC 100 KM

1. Clement Thevenet (FRA) - 12:09:06 hrs

2. Marc de Keyser (BEL) - 12:14:18 hrs

3. Dave Deany (AUS) - 13:48:14 hrs

4. Brent Weigner (USA) - 15:41:04 hrs

5. Matthew Von Ertfelda (USA) - 20:03:42 hrs

100 MILE POLAR CENTENARY RUN

1. Richard Donovan (IRL) - 24:35:02 hrs

WHITE CONTINENT HALF-MARATHON

1. Chad Bruce (CAN) - 2:30.32 hrs

2. Matt Kirby (GBR) - 3:01:01 hrs

*******

Richard Donovan, 42, from Galway in the west of Ireland, began his challenge in numbing sub-zero temperatures in Antarctica on January 31 and finished in Sydney just five days, nine hours and eight minutes later.

"What he did was staggering, quite remarkable," John O'Shea, founder and chief executive of third world charity Goal, told AFP, adding that the money raised would help the charity's work in Sudan's Darfur region.

"It is extraordinary given the conditions and the time scale involved. I can't believe he managed it. I am in awe of what he achieved to bring attention to the tragedy of Dafur and to alleviate the suffering there.

After starting in the Antarctic, Mr Donovan got on a plane to South Africa and completed a marathon in Cape Town. He then flew to Dubai and ran another one, completing three marathons in two days.

Braving snow storms that shut down London on Monday, Mr Donovan completed his fourth marathon there before going to Toronto in Canada for his fifth. Then it was on to Chile for a Santiago marathon and finally to Australia.

Over 129 hours, Mr Donovan endured extreme temperatures and only slept in the economy class seats of airplanes between continents, said Mr O'Shea.

In total he ran 183 miles and flew tens of thousands of miles.

"It brings into focus how little the world does and how much one man does for Dafur. He feels almost as strongly as I do about the lack of an adequate international response in Dafur where 400,000 people have died," Mr O'Shea said.

Goal has been working in Sudan since 1985 and spent about 18 million euros (£15.7 million) there on aid in 2007.

In 2002, Mr Donovan became the first person in the world to run a marathon at both the North and South Poles.

He now organises the northernmost marathon on earth, the North Pole Marathon, and the southernmost marathon on earth, the Antarctic Ice Marathon.

Mr Donovan has won the South Pole Marathon, the Inca Trail Marathon, the Everest Challenge Marathon, the Antarctic 100km and the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race.

Sergey Kovalev is the leader of climbers from Donetsk (Ukraine). In the big interview he declared the nearest plans. He intends to continue a program «Coal of Donbass at the highest summits of the world». Last year Sergey has finished the program of 7 Summits. In this autumn, he was a leader of expedition on Pumori and Ama-Dablam. Now Kovalev dreams to carry out a new expedition on Everest in the spring of 2012. The idea consists in the following: the representatives of four cities of Ukraine in whom European championship matches on football will take place, have together climb the tallest peak of the world. They should make the first kick on a ball at the top of Mount Everest. Cities: Kiev, Kharkov, Donetsk and Lvov. Now the main business is to get an interest of sponsors, and qualified climbers are in Ukraine.

Guide of the 7 Summits Club Denis Saveliev reported. We have two good news from December 14. First: Vyacheslav Adrov set a new record Russia for climbing with a car to maximum height. He climbed with a car on the slopes of Ojos del Salado at the altitude of 5940 meters. And the second news, more modest. Yesterday our group went for acclimatization. But later, we decided that we will not go down and continued climb the slope of the volcano Ojos del Salado. We almost did not notice that appeared on the top. Vyacheslav Adrov, Eugene Astafiev, Lola Moiseeva and Denis Saveliev. At 2 p.m.... It was very, very hard. But we all managed ..

The group has successfully descended to Laguna Verde and drove towards the town of Copiapo.

Bobok, right from the center of Antarctica. Today, December 14, Igor and I, together, two years later, and after 100 years since the first man reached the South Pole, we arrived at it. We are just happy with what is happening ! Ahead is a rich cultural program, meeting with Prime Minister of Norway, the whole ceremony of the meeting. We are all very well, all is well. Life has gone right! All ardent greetings! Byu!

 Here Bobok Victor from Antarctica. All is excellent for us! We are in ten kilometers from the South Pole. Now we lie in tent and we will be waiting for the ceremony "the Entry on the Pole", on 14th of December. That is all – we have crossed our 250 kilometers. And now a day of rest that we deserve.  We brush up, clean up. And as I have already told, we wait for an input ceremony. Everything is OK. We made it ! The last 10 kilometers we get in any case, any weather. But - on December, 14th.

All ardent greetings!

Victor Bobok and Igor Grishkov