Grand Marais adventurer Lonnie Dupre has given up on reaching the summit of Alaska’s Mt. McKinley. After reaching 17,200 feet on the 20,320-foot mountain, he found the snow too hard to dig a suitable shelter.

He was planning to descend the mountain starting today, weather permitting.

My colleague Steve Kuchera wrote a story appearing in today’s Duluth News Tribune about Dupre’s attempt. Here is a link to that story.

Also, I want to correct an error I made in a previous post. Dupre was attempting to become the first person to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley in January. I had said he was attempting to become the first person to summit the mountain in winter, but two previous climbers have done that. I apologize for the error.