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Mt McKinley Expedition: Hahn & Team Resting at Base Camp

Posted by: | June 30, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,200'

Hello, this is Dave Hahn checking in from 7,200’ on Mt. McKinley.

Sure enough, we lucked out yesterday morning and flew onto the mountain first thing.  By 10 AM, our K2 Aviation pilots, Randy and Tony, had the team unloading the big red ski-equipped Otters at 7200 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier.  There was plenty to do for the duration of the day in establishing a camp and reviewing glacier travel techniques.  We did take breaks from our labors in order to gaze up at the gargantuan flanks of the surrounding mountains.  Denali itself even made a few appearances, shaking off low clouds from time to time and attempting to give us the big stare-down from long distance.

Our intention was to get to sleep early and to wake at 1 AM in the hopes of traveling through the heavily crevassed sections of the Kahiltna while the snow surface was frozen up solid.  But due to low clouds rolling in, the surface never came close to freezing.  In fact, throughout the night there were persistent rain and wet snow showers that convinced us to postpone our travel plans for a day.  So today we are resting and casually sorting gear at basecamp.  There is only one other team in base today, camped a few hundred feet away and presumably sharing our hopes for better weather tonight.  We’ve got a mountain to climb.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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