Loncke Death Valley Traverse: 8 days, 143 Miles
Belgian explorer Louis-Philippe Loncke recently completed an unsupported, solo trek traversing the length of Death Valley (North to South) in 8 days. Facing scorching temperatures and limited access to water, Loncke had planned to cover the 143 miles in 6 days but dehydration, gear troubles, and severe weather stretched his expedition longer.
Loncke claims that his trek was the first successful expedition of its kind, but expeditions like this are hard to verify. Loncke did not have a car to shuttle his gear or supplies nor did he utilize any caches – he carried all of his gear, food, and water – close to 95 lbs in all to start – on his back.
Watch this video and get a feel for what this expedition was like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDb397Wj-k
I love to prepare for such challenges, the pain in the knees, feet, lack of food and water is compensated by this immersive experience with the desert and having the privilege to witness all its beauty – Louis-Philippe Loncke
Loncke’s past experience prepared him for Death Valley
Loncke is no stranger to the hardship that is required to complete a trek like this.
In 2007 Loncke completed one of the most remarkable treks in recorded history: a trek across the entire Tasmanian Wilderness – 310 miles and 49 days. The end became a battle for survival, as he ran out of food, had a dead GPS, and no communication with the outside world.Here are some of Loncke’s other expeditions that led him to the Death Valley traverse:
Here are some of Loncke’s other expeditions that led him to the Death Valley traverse:
- 2006: World’s first, unsupported trek where someone has climbed all of the highest peaks in West McDonnell National Park in Australia – 205 miles/11 days;
- 2010: World’s first unsupported trek between its extreme latitudes (north to south) across Iceland – 350 miles, 19 days;
- 2012: World’s first human-powered (by foot in the mountains and kayak and packraft on Vistula river) trek from the highest point in Poland to the Baltic Sea – 750 miles, 30 days;
- 2013: World’s first circumnavigation of Lake Titicaca by kayak – 680 miles, 38 days;
- 2013: Failed attempt at the world’s first unsupported trek across the 2 largest salt flats in Bolivia – completed 110 miles, 7 days.
Has the Death Valley route been done in an unsupported, cache-free style before?
A complete traverse of Death Valley has been completed a number of times – with resupply and water caching.
According to Loncke’s research an unsupported traverse has been attempted twice by the same American who employed a desert cart to transport his gear. The American failed both times (on one trip, his cart would break down and he had to spend too much time repairing it; on another, he lost too much time ferrying gear across difficult terrain so he could drag his cart across it).Loncke believed he could do it with nothing more than strong legs, determination, and a backpack.
Quick Facts about Death Valley National Park
- 95% of the park is Wilderness;
- Northern part of the Mojave Desert and borders California and Nevada;
- Largest National Park in the lower 48;
- Hottest and driest location in the North America;
- Broadwater Basin in Death Valley is 279 feet below sea level, and is the 2nd lowest point in the U.S.;
- The 134 F temperature recorded in Death Valley in July 1913 remains the hottest ever recorded temperature on the surface of the earth.
The Death Valley Expedition
After some adventurous hitchhiking from Las Vegas, Loncke began his trek in the afternoon sun. He opted to do some of his hiking at night when it was cooler, aided by the light of a full moon. Other than being forced to rest in the middle of the day due to extreme heat and leaky water bottles, the first two days passed without major incidents.
On the third day, Loncke stopped sweating, couldn’t keep his heart rate down, and began to overheat. He reasoned that this state was due to an improper salt mix in his water which caused the salinity of his blood to be to high. As a result, he stopped sweating which is very dangerous especially so in a desert environment. His state continued to decline into day four when he decided to abandon his trip.
And then – as he was preparing to exit, he came across some pools of water where he was able to ditch some of his salty water supply and replace it with fresh water. He decided to continue and complete his trek.
I woke up at 1 am and started walking with the moonlight at 2 am until 7pm the same day. The first four days I stopped during the heat of the day for several hours due to my overheating but the last days I could continue walking even during the heat. – Louois-Philippe Loncke
With each successive day, Loncke’s pack weight decreased and his speed increased. On the final night, he took a risky shortcut through some hills that saved 4 to 5 miles. The next day he completed his trek.
Is it possible to do this expedition in 6 days?
Loncke insists that an “athlete” who prepares well and takes the right gear would be able to do this trip in 6 days. He has the following suggestions for anyone willing to try:
- Carry less water (25.5 L total);
- Carry less food (14 lbs total);
- Start before the full moon to take advantage of its full brightness in the middle of the trip;
- Walk 18-20 hours a day (because you’ll have to cover almost 25 miles per day);
- Leave extravagant camera gear behind – it’s just extra weight;
- He even thinks it is possible to do an out and back trip in 11 days provided you are ready to run on the final day!
How tough was this expedition?
Loncke was on the move for 16 hours a day (averaging almost 19 miles per day) through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. Death Valley has more than 20 different classifications of terrain, limited access to water, and the conditions are hot and dry. The physical and psychological toll, especially on a solo trek, can be excruciating.
Discussion
Become a member to post in the forums.
Companion forum thread to: Loncke Completes First Unsupported Death Valley Traverse
Louis-Philippe Loncke, a Belgian explorer completes an 8-day, unsupported, solo trek through some of the harshest conditions and terrain on the planet.
Here’s a map of his route.
I’d suggest that someone carrying much less food and stuff, though only slightly less water, and doing the route in Jan-Feb could cut his time in half without much difficulty.
I’ll be thru hiking DV next month
starting about the 19th and walking from the northern boundary to the south, right about where he finished his hike. I’m in full agreement with you David regarding the water and the reason I’m hiking the valley in the winter. I’m looking at hiking it more as a tune up winter hike in about eight days- with water cached.
It’s ballsy to do an event like this in a place you’ve never been to. Not smart, but ballsy. And in October? A few months later and it would have been so much cooler. An LED headlight (to make up for reduced daylight) weighs FAR less than the extra liters of water.
I do like his timing it for a full moon – that has been really helpful for some of my stupid-human events. Not so much the small savings in lighting weight, but for the greater situational awareness and the simply my enjoyment of the trip as being more than just the 10 feet in front of me.
If this becomes a FKT thing, someone will go much lighter, with a bail-out option if they aren’t able to replenish water mid-trip, perhaps keeping a flexible schedule and being ready to go when a storm track is pointed towards DV.
Maybe a BPL group trip is in order
I agree with all the above. Here is a down the valley walk I did last December. Not as long as his, for the reasons I list. Very easy to cache water or food and very easy to bail out to a road if it all goes south, in fact to me one of the draw backs to a Death Valley walk, you can almost always see a car somewhere, especially at night.
Hi all, I’d like to comment, correct some interpretation and be even more accurate.
Comment on cutting the time in half (so 8 to only 4 days). I don’t know if it’s possible. I’m not telling it is impossible. But Ray and his friend RAN in 5 days with a vehicle support so supported all the way with massage, drinks, food, camp set etc… ! OK in the summer of course
So RUNNING was done in 5 days. Walking in 4 ? Not so sure. Perhaps if you can not sleep at all.
I released a new Death Valley map where you can visually see the daily progress (each color yellow/blue is a day) AND each PINK CAMERA icon brings you to a 360 degree photo of the place (click on the icon). Enjoy
Wow! Looks like a grueling, intense, and solitary, but fun trip! I really enjoyed the map with the 360 degree photo links! Thanks for sharing that.
Finally the Death Valley Trek trailer video. Now I still need to find a job, get money, write the story of the film, find and pay an editor and do a 20 min film or so. I’ll communicated the film (FREE on Youtube) on my website Louis-Philippe-Loncke.com / http://www.MeetExplorers.com / and related facebook Meetexplorers and LouPhi pages and twitter @LonckeLph & MeetExplorers accounts.
Follow to get it as I might forget to post here in a few months.
I’d love to do something like this, and am nowhere close to being able or willing to do any such in current real life.
But I’ve sure thought about it though, crossing desert regions. Traveling at night by moonlight and by 18650 Li-ion powered headlamp, digging in during the day to sleep, and using a double layer tarp with an air gap to block heat, the inner tarp opaque and the top tarp white. It seems like traveling at night would have efficiency benefits, staying warmer by exertion, reducing bedding weight to what was needed to stay comfortable during the day, and the pleasure of navigating while watching the stars. I imagine that an ultralight, relatively low efficiency CIGS panel could keep an 18650 charged with the hours of desert sunlight available while resting. There are 4 oz., 3 watt CIGS panels and 4 oz. 5 watt Sunpower panels available for 30-40$. Using 3 liter wine bags for light weight water containers, filled by siphoning with a tube, the tube serving double duty for siphoning or sucking water from difficult access water holes that might be found along the way.
I’m amazed and impressed all around, and encouraged. My armchair criticism is that it sounds like the salt was added to the water ahead of time, which didn’t allow for correcting the salinity…
Regarding salt, this is over my head but it may be useful:
https://www.jci.org/articles/view/88532
Become a member to post in the forums.