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Mt. McKinley: Hahn & Team on the Ice

Posted by: Dave Hahn | June 29, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

What a difference a day makes.  Things didn’t seem a whole lot better, first thing this morning.  Talkeetna was still a little dim and grey with low cloud lurking as we headed out to the airstrip.  It took a few hours of waiting for things to come around.  Our pilots figured out a clear path in to the Kahiltna, despite a fair amount of lingering clouds hiding the mountains.  What we were able to see was stunning and spectacular, as if to make up for all that was hidden.  Unbelievably steep and immense mountains began to pop up all around us as we entered the heart of the range.  Glaciers, snow and random ice seemed to hang on every possible flank.  The K2 pilots did their normal perfect approach and landing with the big ski equipped DeHaviland Otters.  We’d taken off from town at 11:30 AM and we were unloading gear on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna 35 minutes later.  At basecamp it was intensely sunny and warm with no wind whatsoever.  The cloud cover evaporated and we were treated to grand views of Mount Hunter, Mount Foraker and even Denali on occasion.  We built camp and began reviewing glacier travel techniques.  There was plenty to get done and we worked throughout the afternoon and evening at divy-ing loads and getting rigged for an early morning move to camp at 7,800 ft. What we could see from the planes backed up what we’ve been hearing from other climbers… conditions on the lower glacier are excellent. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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