Entries By Dave Hahn

Sunday June 29, 2025 - 10:49 pm PT

It was the ultimate luxury to lie in until the sun came around this morning. We ate our last bagel breakfast and lounged about in the sunshine. We rested, but we also schemed and plotted our ascent for the next few days, and that scheming got tougher as the day progressed. We became aware that the teams at 17K had turned around from their summit bids after finding avalanche conditions on the "autobahn". Of course we will need some improvement in that condition by the time we reach the same terrain, so the team will have the challenge of trying to remain optimistic and positive while acknowledging that a problem lies ahead. We said goodbye to Dom's RMI team as they descended through 14 camp, we ate our dinner and we prepared to climb. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 10:28 pm PT

Today was the day for us to get up on the West Buttress. But it was the day for everybody else to get up on the West Buttress too. We had no choice but to climb in a crowd. That said, it was a crowd of pretty nice folks all around. We didn’t try to be the first out of camp, there was no desire to race anybody. We had a leisurely breakfast and geared up in time to leave by around 10 AM. There were perhaps thirty climbers ahead of us and thirty behind. The storm and waiting for snow to stabilize had put everybody on the same schedule. The downside of that was that we couldn’t go at our own pace, the upside was that we didn’t have to break trail. Patience was the word of the day and that paid off for us. It was neither cold nor windy and we could afford to be patient. The entire team did just fine on the much anticipated “fixed rope” section and then we topped out on the ridge at 16,200 ft, shattering altitude records for Bailey, Calvin, Rahul and Frederick. We cached our food and fuel and got down to camp by 5 PM. Tomorrow will be a rest and recovery day and we’ll be keeping fingers crossed for Dom Cifelli’s RMI team to ring the summit bell. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Friday, June 27, 2025 10:38 pm PDT

Dispatch 14.2 – Storm Day 2

As forecasted, today was a better day. It was sunny and calm… and we didn’t go climbing. The guide team felt that the recent snowfall needed at least one good sunny day to settle and reduce the avalanche hazard. As it turned out, all other teams on the mountain came to a similar conclusion—no teams moved today.

We ended up making pretty good use of the day, though. We roped up and took a field trip to the Edge of the World! Since we are camped in the middle of a large glacial basin, it’s easy to forget just how high we’ve already climbed. A short walk to the edge is a quick reminder. It was thrilling today to climb a rock at the edge and look down a few thousand feet to the Kahiltna Glacier—where we camped a while back.

Back at camp, Calvin gave a well-received instructional session on avalanche beacons, and Sam put all his culinary skill into boiling water for our freeze-dried dinner.

We hope to carry up onto the Buttress tomorrow.

– RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

It snowed continuously through the night and all day. Finally, at six in the evening, it stopped, and we could see a bit more than a hundred feet in any direction. There was never a possibility of climbing today, so we made the best of a storm/rest day by enjoying a slow, leisurely breakfast in our dining tent. Afterward, we dug out the camp, took naps, and read books.

We managed to squeeze in a little training for the “fixed ropes” we hope to climb next. We practiced as the last snow fell and the clouds began to clear. That put us in a good position to witness the event of the day—a big avalanche roaring out of the Messner Couloir on the South Peak. We knew we weren’t in any danger from that particular couloir, but it was still sobering to be engulfed by the powder cloud thrown up by the slide. We’d heard several avalanches over the past 24 hours, but it was thrilling to actually watch one.

As we ate dinner, the clouds continued to melt away, and it was wonderful to be in actual sunshine again. Many of us found it hard to take our eyes off the mountain and all the fresh scars from sliding snow. We hope to climb the West Buttress in the morning, but that will depend on whether the new snow has had enough time to settle.

— RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 10:19 pm PT

Today, life at 14,200 was pretty easy compared to yesterday.  We had a slow breakfast and then roped up to retrieve our cache down at 13,500 ft.  The day started with a cloud cap on the South Peak. As we went about our business that gradually morphed into cloud everywhere and a snowy day. But our timing was right and we got our work done before the snow.  It only took 20 minutes to walk down to the cache, perhaps another 20 to dig it up and a little more than an hour to climb back up to camp. We were home by a little after noon.  Then it was a tent afternoon while the snow fell.  It was light, but persistent. Still snowing now at 8:40PM but without any wind.  Certainly we’ll hope for some clearing in the night or tomorrow morning.

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:24 pm PT

As soon as we poked our heads out of tents this morning at 6 AM we knew we were going to be able to make the big jump to 14,000'.  Still, it took until a little after nine to get on the trail… or, more correctly, onto where the trail should have been. The new snow was boot deep and there wasn’t a single track left on Motorcycle Hill so we had some good hard work to drag sleds up it.  Things got a little better on Squirrel Hill as there was less snow and a team coming down the mountain left tracks that we were able to make occasional use of.  There was only a 3 mph breeze at windy corner, so we were able to get around without too much trouble.   Then we pushed on up into sun drenched Genet Basin to find a wonderful and welcome surprise.

Dom Cifelli’s RMI team was in the process of flattening out an excellent camp sight for us.  They built us a deluxe latrine and even gave us water to get our kitchen started.  Before long we were set up and good to go.  They saved us a ton of work.  We had a nice dinner and crawled in to the tents while the sun was still high in the sky.  It is going behind the West Buttress now -at 9 PM- and we expect some of our first cold temps of the trip.  Just as it should be way up here in our new home. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was a snowy night at 11,000' Camp, followed by a snowy morning and snowy day. We stayed put.  The team ate a slow and leisurely breakfast in the dining tent, followed by a protracted debate and story telling session, followed by naps books, tv and podcasts.

By afternoon and evening we were getting a little sun and blue sky but it was still snowing lightly.   It was a storm day… which worked pretty well as a rest day too.  We hope to be back in action tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, June 22, 2025 - 9:30 pm PT

Forecasts weren’t great for today, but when we looked out in the morning, the actual weather wasn’t bad. We packed up and got our spikes on by 8:20AM to begin working up Motorcycle Hill. It was great to be climbing in crampons and using an ice axe again. We took our first rest break in the middle of Squirrel Hill and our second in the Polo Field just under the end of the West Buttress. It was a little breezy, but since temps weren’t very cold it wasn’t at all uncomfortable.

Most of our day was spent in brilliant sunshine with blue sky, while clouds filled in below us. Windy Corner wasn’t particularly windy, and the travel conditions were good, so we made it to our cache target of 13,500 feet in four hours. We did a bit of hard digging to keep our things safe from ravens.  After one last look at the great South Peak of Mt. McKinley (our destination) we dropped back around the corner and had an easy climb down to Camp at 11k. The final 30 minutes was in a mild whiteout as we descended into the clouds. 

The round trip was a pretty respectable 6 hours and got us back in plenty of time for a restful afternoon while it snowed lightly on our tents. Fingers crossed for moving weather tomorrow as we would like to get to 14k camp.  

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Saturday, June 21, 2025 - 10:26 pm PT

We woke to clouds and a little wind today, but still got in plenty of solstice sun.  The poor weather in the morning actually worked to our advantage. We needed to drop back down to 10,000 feet on the Kahiltna to get our cached supplies and then return up the big hill below 11,000.  That hill is in a glacial bowl that can become quite hot with straight out sunshine.  We found it to be just right with breezes and cloud cover this morning. We were back up before noon.

We are done with snowshoes and on to crampons for the steeper terrain to come. In the afternoon we alternated between rest and review of climbing techniques for the path ahead. If weather allows we will try to put a cache just beyond Windy Corner at 13,500 ft. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Friday, June 20, 2025 9:59pm PDT

Happy Solstice from 11,000 ft

Today was our longest climbing day of the trip so far. We were up just after 2 a.m., in the shadows of the Kahiltna Glacier. Climbing began at 4:20 a.m. on the now-familiar Ski Hill. It was a cool morning, and the walking was easier thanks to a hard overnight freeze.

The hill steepened as we gained elevation, offering a striking view of the pyramidal granite of the West Buttress towering ahead. The team remained in shadow—a welcome relief—when we paused near our 10,000 ft cache from yesterday.

Leaving the main glacier, we stepped into the sun as we entered the basin below 11 Camp. We made it into camp in just under six hours, then spent a couple more building a secure and comfortable site.

There are a few clouds drifting about, but we expect the sun to stay with us well into the Alaskan night.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team