Entries from Locations
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from the summit of Mount Vinson, highest point in Antarctica. Us four remaining climbers are up here. Our fifth climber is safe at high camp. All is well. We have really lucked out. We're up here in windless conditions on top. Very comfortable even though it's probably on the order of -35 degrees. So we're doing very well. We've made good time coming up here. It's 3:30 local time. We started at 8:30 local time. So we're doing quite well and we'll give you a dispatch from high camp when we get back there safely. All the best from Antarctica!
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in from the Mount Vinson summit!
On The Map
We got close to the top today and we’re trying again tomorrow. A persistent 10 mph wind rattled the tents all night long and carried into the morning as well. That -combined with the cold- made gearing up and getting ready difficult. We hit the trail by 10 AM. At first, it was something of a hassle to keep glasses and goggles from fogging and our faces from freezing, but within about 90 minutes we’d left the wind behind and could just concentrate on good walking. The weather up on Vinson’s peak seemed perfect and we were growing steadily closer. At 3 PM we’d reached 14,800 ft (Vinson is just over 16,000 ft) when one of our climbers made the difficult decision to go no higher. Running the fuel tank dry anywhere is a hassle, but it can be life threatening on a high, cold, remote Antarctic peak. We needed to turn around and get back to high camp. We were down by five and the team immediately set to “work” resting and rehydrating. Four of us will go for it tomorrow while our teammate rests in high camp. The forecast is still looking good for tomorrow and of course we hope to get the job done.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hello again Everyone
All is well here in Ecuador.
Yesterday we had a nice leisurely start to our day. We packed up for the move up onto the mountain and left the comfortable Lodge around 11am.
We first stopped by the massive market in Otavalo to take in the culture and we did our best at bartering for some local goods.
It was a little intimidating as Saturday is the big market day and it was jam packed with people and their goods. The team snaked our way through never ending streets of goods chatting with locals and then had a nice lunch overlooking the main square.
After lunch, we headed directly to the mountain with help from a few 4x4 vehicles to make it up the very rugged road that goes all the way to the mountain hut at 15,000ft. The team chose to hike the last hour to help with acclimatization, and allowed our vehicles to deliver the gear at the hut. It was extremely windy so we didn’t venture outdoors too much. We finished the evening with a nice warm meal then turned in early for a good night's rest.
Today the team got up around 6:30am to have breakfast and get ready for our hike up to the glacier that’s about an hour uphill. We spent a few hours refreshing our mountaineering skills on the glacier and taking in the views when the clouds allowed.
Everyone is doing very well and the whole team is in good spirits up here since the weather has mellowed out.
Our plan is to have an early dinner then head to bed as tomorrow we’ll be making our first summit attempt. We’ll shoot for getting up around 11:30pm and hopefully be out the door in an hour's time. If things go well I expect it will take somewhere around 6-8 hours to reach the summit. Then we’ll descend via the route back to the hut.
Keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the mountain crew!
On The Map
Great Job on the Summit! We are continuing to follow your progress.
Posted by: Pete Palmgren on 12/11/2018 at 9:20 am
Good luck Jim & Dave! Hope you summit safely! We’ll be following you two. Can’t wait to hear all about it.
Posted by: Kristi Nottingham on 12/10/2018 at 9:53 am
One of the days we were waiting for. It was obvious from the start (10 AM) that this was our day to move up to High Camp. Skies were brilliant blue, peaks were clear of cloud caps, and little wind could be detected off the High Camp ridge three thousand feet above us. By midday we’d spoken to Vinson base and learned we had the forecast in our favor as well -conditions improving on each of the next two days. That could work out well. It wasn’t actually so nice down at Vinson Base Camp... they were in fog and murk and couldn’t get airplanes in or out. We left Low Camp -which had been our home for six nights- at 12:42 PM. Having the fixed ropes to ourselves was pleasant in a lot of ways, but it was still uphill forever and our packs were heavier than when we’d gone up for our carry. As we neared High Camp at 6:20 PM, the “wind” was about three miles per hour... but that little bit of movement reminded us quickly just how cold the air was (likely 10 or 15 F below zero). We built our tents and ate dinner while strategizing over a summit bid tomorrow. It would be tempting to stay out in the late night sunshine looking over “the edge” for hours (one hundred feet from our tents is the upper rim of the great western escarpment of Vinson) the peaks are jagged and vivid, the backdrop is an endless sea of clouds and ice... but we’ll stare at it all some other time. Gotta get our sleep. Big day coming up.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
WOW. PICS ARE AMAZING.
THANKS.
STAY SAFE, WARM as can B
Posted by: Bill Osten on 12/9/2018 at 12:58 pm
Hola Amigos!
We had an early departure today leaving behind the busy and celebrating city of Quito. The team drove north, passing by the Equator and made our way to another acclimatization hike. Just outside Quito the landscape quickly turned from a giant valley into rolling hills with farms pitched on steep slopes, and small forest of eucalyptus trees as far as the eye could see.
We visited a smaller mountain called Fuya Fuya where we got to stretch our legs on the steepest grassy hillside I’ve ever seen. Thankfully the weather was decent which allowed us to see some amazing views of the surrounding landscape that included a beautiful lake in the background.
We are just on the outskirts of a town call Otavalo, which is known for its massive market and we are currently relaxing at the wonderful Hacienda called "La Casa Sol Lodge” [url=http://www.lacasasol.com]http://www.lacasasol.com[/url]
The team is doing great after hot showers, a wonderful meal, and celebrating an Anniversary of some of our teammates.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to a nice tranquil night.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Ecuadorian crew
On The Map
Dave looks like you are carrying Jim, always the mentor. Looks like you all are having a blast. Hope it is 1/2 the fun as it looks. Sure is beautiful. Take lots of pictures but no wooden nickels. Safe travels.
Posted by: Pete Palmgren on 12/10/2018 at 2:26 pm
There was improvement all around when we checked weather this morning, but not enough to permit moving up yet. The clouds were almost gone, which seemed to fit with the forecast that high pressure was building, but there was still wind up high blowing big streamers of snow off the ridge overhead. In the below zero temps we work in down here, one just can’t get a whole lot safely done while walking into wind. But today’s winds were nothing like yesterday’s. We followed our familiar Low Camp rest day routine of alternating naps reading and feeding. We didn’t cut blocks or add to our snow walls today though... we’re finally feeling temporary, like we’ll leave this camp tomorrow. We checked in with Base Camp a couple of times today, as usual. Their weather was actually worse than ours and the climbers were still waiting for clearing to be able to fly back to Union Glacier.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
After a fun filled day touring around Quito yesterday, today was our first acclimatization hike. Our target Rucu Pichincha, a 15,696' extinct volcano. With sun breaks and patchy clouds the hike was a success, getting back to the hotel by 3 in the afternoon.
There was plenty of time for more exploring and shopping around Quito before the team had a good dinner at a local brewery.
RMI Guide Chad Gaffigan
On The Map
The weatherman was spot on. By morning there were wind sculpted space ship clouds stacked over all the peaks and the ridge above us began to sprout streamers of snow flying out into the air. Not a whole lot of choice for us but to stay put. The teams at high camp were able to get moving downward before things strengthened at midday. We greeted and congratulated our traveling companions as they did a quick reshuffle of their gear and got hauling sleds down to basecamp. And we went back to cutting snow blocks and building stout walls to protect our tents. Before long, the winds were visible reaching all the way down the fixed lines and it was blowing pretty hard -perhaps 40 or 50 mph- on the glacier just a few hundred meters from our camp. We’re considering ourselves quite lucky that it stayed relatively calm and even sunny in camp all day. The jealousy for the victorious teams that hit the narrow two day weather window perfectly has passed and we are now a little excited to have the entire mountain to ourselves. It feels a little more “Antarctic” in some way. What better way to commemorate that Antarctic feeling, than with burrito night in the cook tent.
We are each confident and motivated for climbing Mt. Vinson just as soon as the wind drops.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hola from Ecuador!
The team arrived late last night after some very long flights. Today we started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions to get to know each other and then discussed the game plan for our upcoming 11 day adventure here in Ecuador.
After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our local and very knowledgeable tour guide Angel. We first headed north to visit the Equator from which Ecuador gets its name, stopping by a museum that had a pretty interesting collection as well as some unique test that attempt to prove it’s the actual middle of the world.
Then we headed to the southern part of Quito to a big hill called La Panacia that over looks this beautiful city. Normally we get to visit the oldest part of Quito, but today is the Holiday celebrating the founding of Quito and many of the street were closed for the festival. So we opted for a visit to the Basilica, built in gothic style, and managed to climb nearly to the top, via the steepest stairs any of us had ever been on. Pretty cool to say the least!
We wrapped up the day with a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. Then it was off to dinner at a nice restaurant where we were enjoyed getting to know each other better.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Ecuador crew
Definitely the nicest day of the trip so far. We spent it resting at Low Camp. Rest was welcome after the big effort yesterday, but the day would have been a bit more relaxing had we not received the news that the wind would come back tomorrow. Things worked out well for the other teams on the mountain. While we all climbed the fixed lines to High Camp yesterday, ours was the only group electing to carry and return to Vinson Low Camp. The others stayed up and went to the top today. Of course we are happy for them, but we’ll be truly happy when we’ve gotten equally lucky with a calm day of our own up high.
We enjoyed the profound quiet today, without people and without weather. We read and rested, cut a few snow blocks for walls and ate a few more meals in our kitchen tent. We’ll enjoy the late sun on the tents tonight and we’ll hope the weatherman and the weather have both had a change of heart by tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Congratulations Matt ! I knew you could do it ! Your a bad motor scooter :)
Posted by: mike and melody shepherd on 12/14/2018 at 7:13 am
Congrats, Matt! Looking forward to celebrating when you return. Five down, only two more to go! Scott Schlesner
Posted by: Scott Schlesner on 12/10/2018 at 8:36 pm
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