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Mt. Everest Expedition: Waiting

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 15, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

It is the middle of May and the wait for fine weather on Mount Everest continues.  Many climbers have started up the mountain so as to be in position should a break come in the next few days.  A combination team of Sherpas from several expeditions is bound for the South Col now, hoping to be able to fix the ropes to the top when the wind dies.  Our team is obviously hoping that the fixing effort succeeds and that those lining up for a first shot at the top get their shot.  We aren’t eager to be in that first run though.  The weather window is forecasted to be short and the climbers are many, so we will instead take our chances on whatever more substantial break comes afterward.  But the waiting is difficult.  We are all healthy and feeling strong and we’ve now been down and resting for some time.  We want to climb soon and it is difficult to hold back when others are going for it, but our judgment is that a little more patience is called for to fully accomplish our goals.  We are each feeling the frustrations of being in a dead-end valley where the only real outlet is a journey through the Khumbu Icefall.  It doesn’t make much sense to go through that jumble simply for exercise and so we repeatedly backtrack down the trail toward Gorak Shep, taking on more sensible and vastly safer hiking goals like Kalapathar and Pumori Camp One.  Our hope in doing these hikes is that our legs and lungs will be ready for the real thing and that daily hikes will keep our brains from fretting over the wait.  It is sometimes a little difficult for us to remember that these 19,000 feet “hikes” in the midst of spectacular peaks and glaciers would be lifetime goals for many and that we are extremely lucky to be living in this place… But of course we are preoccupied with the top vertical mile or so of Mt. Everest right now.

Winds are still raking the upper peaks and ridges and temperatures still seem a bit lower than normal for mid-May.  Our walks and scrambles on the glacier adjacent to Basecamp reveal slightly less runoff than we’d consider normal.  We choose to view this positively in that the Khumbu Icefall won’t get up to its full speed while things remain remain cool.

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Hiking and Annual Horseshoe Invitational at Basecamp

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 14, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

This is Dave Han calling from Everest Basecamp. And another nice day here yesterday and today it didn’t snow. First time in about 10 days. A little bit drier weather playing through. Teams are starting to get into position now. It’s looking like there’s gonna be little bit of weather window. They are talking at first about the 17th and the 18th. A little bit calmer weather up above. It didn’t look all that windy today. It wasn’t quite summit weather. A little bit more of a break coming up that a number of teams are hoping to jump on and establish that route to the top. We are actually looking a few days beyond that and monitoring the weather forecast to see if we get lucky out past that. Today our team went on various hikes. Everybody’s feeling strong, feeling healthy. Nice to be running around on the hills around here. This afternoon we had our Annual Invitational Horseshoe Tournament at the RMI Base Camp and it was well attended. Lots of fun for the afternoon. [Groan] And sadly the RMI teams didn’t finish in the finals, didn’t win but it was a great tournament. We are looking forward to next year. All for now.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Sherpa Team Moving Supplies on Upper Mountain

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 11, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Hey Dave Hahn calling from Mount Everest. We’re at Base Camp. Our Sherpa team, Lam Babu and the guys are rested at Camp 2 today. They hope that they are going to put in a carry of gear and supplies up the South Col tomorrow. Early tomorrow they will try to reach 8,000 meters. The climbing team, we’re still taking it easy at Base Camp trying to keep our activity level up hiking, and visiting with friends and playing games. The weather forecast is still for a little bit higher winds to come in the next couple of days. There is not any effort at the moment between the climbing teams, the various climbing teams around us, to prioritize between going to the summit. That will come after those winds spike up and then we hope those higher winds leave the mountain and give us some better conditions. So it will probably all going to be happening after the middle of the month. A little bit of waiting time at Base Camp but not bad for us. Bye for now.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: The Waiting Game

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 10, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Resting at Base Camp is a little bit of a deceptive phrase.  It is 17,300 feet, and rest (even after weeks spent here) is hard to come by.  The more days we spend here, the less restful it seems.  But waiting and patience have always been part of the Everest climbing season.  It is a gentle reminder that we are here climbing on the mountain’s terms rather then our own.  And the terms are dynamic.  We have been looking closely at the weather every day, while also watching the conditions on the upper mountain slowly evolve into something more favorable for our summit bid.  Yesterday our climbing Sherpa headed up to Camp 2, with their sights set on getting the higher camps built.  I just heard the fast Nepali words come over the radio; they are back safely at Camp 2 after building a suitable Camp 3.  It is all shaping up, but of course for us, this means only a flicker of light in the tunnel of a summit push.  There is still a considerable amount of resting and waiting to be done. So now it is slow days of rebuilding our Base Camp tent platforms, card games, books and walks around the area. The team is doing well, everyone is happy and thankful to be waiting at the feet of a giant and watching carefully for the right time to climb.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Route & Forecast are Looking Better

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 08, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Hello, this is Dave Hahn calling from Everest Base Camp. We’re resting and hiking and we’re watching the progress of the weather conditions. It has been snowing a little bit every day and it seems, from what we have been told, that conditions have gotten a little bit better on the upper mountain. There was significant progress yesterday. A team of climbers, sherpas made it to the South Col. The route is fixed all the way to 8,000 meters now.  Our sherpa team is going up tomorrow morning up to Camp 2 to check out conditions and see whether it makes sense for them to get on the wall to establish our Camp 3 and Camp 4. There is supposed to be, the next few days, supposed to be calm with continued light snow each day and we are seeing that is a good thing. Then the winds are supposed to come back, the jet stream is supposed to move into the mountains, but briefly, and then we are hoping for a break in conditions after the middle of the month. So it is going to be a little bit of a down time for the climbing team and we are keeping ourselves busy, like I say, with hiking and eating and resting and games. So far so good. Things seemed to have calmed down on Mt. Everest. Bye for now.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Snowing at Base Camp is a Good Thing

Posted by: Dave Hahn | May 05, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Snowy, cold and grey morning at Mt. Everest Basecamp.  Which is not entirely a bad thing.  In fact, we want it to keep snowing for a few days in order to change the dangerously icy conditions that exist up high on the mountain.  Of course, snow down here at 17,500 ft. doesn’t translate to snow up at 25,000 ft, but we can only hope.  The consensus between guides and expedition leaders on the mountain is that we need some sort of change before we can responsibly send climbers and Sherpas onto the rock-strafed flanks of Lhotse again.

This situation makes for a slightly tougher than normal mental game for Everest climbers.  Normally, in this first week of May we’d be putting the finishing touches on our conditioning and acclimatization in preparation for the summit.  And although we did what we could toward those goals on our last rotation up the hill, it wasn’t much without a day or two on the Lhotse Face.  But that could not be helped.  Unfortunately, we saw, heard of, and dealt with several instances of other climbers getting slammed by rock.  Such poor odds of success were not for us.  So now we are resting at basecamp and we are in limbo.  If the snow actually sticks to the blue ice of the Lhotse Face the chance of a rock blowing off the summit of the 4th highest mountain in the world and hurtling unimpeded down toward our fixed ropes would be greatly reduced and we’d be back in business.  If that happens sooner, then we might even have a chance to go back up for a more thorough acclimatization rotation before the summit bid.  If time drags on a bit before that snow sticks… we may be left with just a shot at the summit.  And if time drags on for several weeks without the change we need… a decent shot at the top is in doubt.

In our favor, the jet stream winds that were raking the mountain (and setting free thousands of precariously perched rocks up high) have eased.  The word is that the jet is to the South of the mountain now and that relatively low winds are going to be with us… which normally allows for cloud formation and some daily snow.  In our favor, there are still teams willing to risk the rockfall (and now snow sluffs) of the Lhotse Face and so we’ll get daily reports as to conditions up high and perhaps the route will still get scratched in despite the hazards.  We certainly wouldn’t ask anyone to endure these conditions, but we aren’t so proud and stubborn that we wouldn’t take advantage of the good results of such labor when conditions turn favorable.

It is hang loose time.  Cards, books, movies, naps, meals, get-togethers with other climbers, walks out to “Icy Cyber” (the position ten minutes out in the glacier that gets 3G service), conversations about the weather, the icefall, the fixed ropes and the helicopters… incidentally, there are none today and it is quiet like back in the old days, thanks to the snow.

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Acclimatizing at ABC

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot | May 02, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 21,300'

Hello,

This is Dave Hahn calling from Advanced Base Camp on Mt. Everest.  Beautiful day today, it was kind of windy last night and wind continued during the day.  Roaring up above and just gusting down below where we were.  We went for a hike, a roped up hike with crampons and ice axes, exploring the upper end of the Western Cwm.  We went up to the start of a new climbing route, a new way of accessing the Lhotse face that a number of friends of ours were working hard to put in today.  We wanted to check out their efforts and get a look at the terrain over there.  So this a bit several hundred meters to one side of the existing route where it crosses the Bergschrund at the base of the face which is a little too active in rock fall in the conditions that we have right now.  So this is an effort to try to find an alternative.  It was a good outing for us.  We were out for about 3 hours and enjoyed working against the altitude and working in the cold wind and seeing things from a little bit different angle.  We came back and spent the afternoon in camp.

Consensus is that conditions are pretty dry and dangerous on the Lhotse face.  So many teams were not having their members or Sherpa go up on the standard route, but others were. Our intention now, not being able to safely climb at the moment without some new snow or some change, is to head down to Base Camp in the morning.  So that is what we are looking to do – up early and heading down.
That’s all for now.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Team Continues to Acclimatize at ABC

Posted by: Melissa Arnot, Mark Tucker, Dave Hahn | May 01, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 21,300'

Happy Anniversary to the first American Summit team on Mt. Everest!
That climb happened forty-nine years ago today.  Thanks to all the teams of the past for the valuable insight on how to climb this mountain as safe and smart as possible. 
Dave Hahn and the RMI team remained at Camp 2 (ABC) for another night. All is well up there as they adjust slowly to these extreme altitudes. Conditions on the upper mountain are rough with the jet stream still over top and limited tracks in the upper route for now.  Dave is the master at making the best use of their time up high and when they return to Base Camp I’m sure they will be ready for some rest down here in the thick air of 17,575’.

We are now in the meat of the Mt. Everest climbing season.  There are teams all over the mountain and everybody is at a little different stage in their schedule to get themselves ready for the summit. The cooperation between the teams this year has been fantastic and the resolve and commitment to work together is outstanding.  It is a small community here and everybody pulling together is making for a very enjoyable season.
Lots of work ahead and many more amazing photos to be taken. Hold on - summit time is just around the corner because it’s the month of MAY!

Happy May Day!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Dave Hahn Checks in from ABC

Posted by: Dave Hahn | April 30, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 21,300'

This is Dave Hahn calling in from Advanced Base Camp again.  Another windy day up here at the head of the Western Cwm.  Apparently the jet stream winds are still on the mountain and it’s sure sounding like it.  All day long big roaring noise as the air was hitting the south west face of Mt. Everest and the north face of Lhotse. And just ripping over the tops of the mountains.  Didn’t make sense to do any hard climbing in those conditions, for us.  That wouldn’t have worked for us anyway today we were into light exercise activities and trying to gain acclimatization.  We all had a good night last night and we are try build on that. 

We just went for a short, couple hour long hike to gain a little elevation but didn’t get on to any technical ground. We returned back to camp and took it easy the rest of the afternoon.  We are looking forward to some change in the wind and still surprised at how icy and dry the upper mountains are.  I wouldn’t mind that changing a little bit and getting a little snow cover on the hills.  But, everybody is doing well and we will keep you up to date.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Team Arrives At Advanced Base Camp

Posted by: Dave Hahn | April 29, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 21,300'

Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling in from Advanced Base Camp on Mt. Everest 21,300’.
The climbing team came up here in good style today, all the way from Base Camp, this morning. We started out about 4:15 in the morning, still dark, climbing by head light.  The climbing route is ok but kind of spooky.  We walked thru some very large debris fields from avalanches that have come down in the last couple of days from both the West Shoulder of Mt. Everest and from Nuptse.  Both mountains have thrown down debris that is across the climbing route.  We didn’t have a bad day, we were pretty lucky with our conditions. It was kind of a breezy day and they say the jet stream is right over Mt. Everest right now. The weather we are experiencing certainly seems to bear that out.  It was sunny, cold and gusty and windy most of the day but that saved us from being too hot coming up into camp, this big reflector oven of the Western Cwm.  Thing are really dry up here.  Our camp is great, our Sherpa team did a wonderful job building up our Advanced Base Camp ahead of our arrival.
We are going to spend our first night here tonight.  We will see how we are doing in the morning.  Tomorrow will probably be a rest day, but we might get in a hike or two.  That’s all for now.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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