Things are looking good for the team. The wait should prove itself worth it, the weather window and the overall health of the team is like having the pole position at the Indy 500. An early breakfast, and six plus hours of climbing should put the team at Camp 2 tomorrow.
We enjoyed a great pizza dinner send off tonight. Some last minute packing, and early to bed.
Go team go!
RMI Guide & Everest Basecamp ManagerMark Tucker
Happy Bithday Mark.
Be safe, but hurry up and summit. Surf is up and the Black Ball is coming. Are you in for Father’s Day Golf?
Posted by: Kent Tucker on 5/21/2012 at 9:08 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!
Dalton, Nicole, and Hailey all went through cllege graduation ceramonies this weekend.
Boy, you are getting old!
Have a snow cone on me.
Another day of waiting and hiking for those of us at Mt. Everest Base Camp, but an important day none-the-less. The "fixing team" made it to the summit today, taking advantage of stable weather in the morning. We heard that things weren't quite so stable in the afternoon, with wind and snow working over the upper mountain, but climbers pushed on to the mountaintop anyway and then descended safely. The word was that several hundred climbers moved up the Lhotse Face today to be in position for summit bids tomorrow. We wish them all fine conditions for those bids, but we are keeping focused on our own window, which the forecasts still predict to be a good one, several days out.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Be safe. You are the best and most experieced guide in the world, so you really don’t need me to say “Be Safe” but we are all hearing about the conditions this year - so BE SAFE. Bill M.
Posted by: bill mcgahan on 5/19/2012 at 10:49 am
Hey Dave,
Mark Gray here. You led a climb on Rainier about 6 years ago where you were called of for a rescue of some other RMI group. It had snowed off and on through the night and we would probably would have not tried for the summit anyway. Needless to say I was amazed to even have been able to climb to camp Muir with you and have followed your Everest attempts ever since. Just wanted you to know you are in my prayers as you once again head for the the top of the world!
Hi, This is Dave Hahn calling from Mt. Everest Base Camp, Nepal.
We are still in our waiting game. Conditions appear to have calmed down as predicted today and we hope tomorrow. There are teams posed at the South Col tonight, including a team of Sherpa looking to fix the route to the summit tomorrow. That would be pretty significant, obviously. We are rooting for those guys and hoping they get good weather. But still, this particular weather window is a little too short and a little too busy with people for us. So we are biding our time here and looking very carefully at the forecast for better weather in a few more days. That requires us to be down here at the base of the mountain a few days longer. So, we are just biding our time. We are exercising and going hiking each day, playing games and trying to keep from going crazy. We are looking forward better conditions in a few days and a summit bid.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from Everest Base Camp, May 17th.
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
dave- i had the pleasure of you serving as my guide in sept 98 on an ascent of Rainier. I wish you good weather, health and most importantly- safety. Suerte amigo!
Posted by: david.mendel on 5/17/2012 at 11:58 am
Have you met my friend Moshi Wilfred from Tanzania yet? He’s probably the tallest guy on the mountain.
Best of health and well-being during your climb.
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
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
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
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
Hello Dave and Melissa: I just got on your blog a week or so ago and have enjoyed your posts! Wishing the best in climbing for you and certainly hope the conditions start to improve so you can get to your goal: a summitt attempt! Things are good in Seattle and I hope to get on Mt. Rainier a couple times this summer. Then the best part: the Mountain Festival! Hope you’ll both be in attendance again since it’s so good to visit and hear your climbing experiences. My radio station is supposed to be getting in touch with RMI to set things up for another weekend of coverage. Sending good climbing vibes your way, so good luck! Mike Brown
Posted by: Mike Brown on 5/9/2012 at 11:00 pm
Good climbing, David .
hoped to meet your father and Lisa in Boston at the end of this month but Memorial w/e is not propitious for Ron to drive. I read about your intrepid hike with Ron in Yosemite. Remarkable, and so well written.
Regards and Berg Heil from Your distant relative
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
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
Happy Bithday Mark.
Be safe, but hurry up and summit. Surf is up and the Black Ball is coming. Are you in for Father’s Day Golf?
Posted by: Kent Tucker on 5/21/2012 at 9:08 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!
Dalton, Nicole, and Hailey all went through cllege graduation ceramonies this weekend.
Boy, you are getting old!
Have a snow cone on me.
Posted by: Craig Tucker on 5/20/2012 at 7:58 pm
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