Cold halts Dupre's McKinley climb

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Extreme cold has thwarted a Minnesota climber's third attempt to become the first person to summit Alaska's Mount McKinley solo in the dead of winter.

The Anchorage Daily News says 51-year-old Lonnie Dupre told his support crew early Sunday that it was 35 below zero in a snow cave he had built at the 17,200-foot level of the 20,320-foot mountain, North America's tallest peak.

His support crew says Dupre is making his way down and will proceed as the weather permits.

Dupre, of Grand Marais, Minn., also failed in his winter attempts to summit McKinley last year and in 2011.

Only two people have completed a McKinley summit in the dead of winter _ December or January _ but no one has done it alone.

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