Entries By dave hahn

Mt. Rainier summit!  The teams led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Jack Delaney reached the top at 7:13 a.m.  They reported clear skies, a light breeze, and smoke to the East.  After spending some time at the crater rim marveling in the sights from the highest point in Washington, the team began their descent.

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Nikki Champion climbed into a cloud cap with rain and wind, this forced the team turned at 13,200' on Mt. Rainier. Despite turning before the summit due to weather, the sunrise at the top of the cleaver was very rewarding!

The team is back at Camp Muir and will be descending soon. 

Congratulations Team!

This morning RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Alex Halliday led their teams to the top of Mt. Rainier!  The weather is cloudy and smoky from some wildfires up north.  The team began their descent from the crater rim at 9:25 a.m.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn radioed from the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning to let us know the Four Day Climb July 23 - 26 teams had reached the summit and were starting their descent.  Dave reported sunny skies and light winds and a perfect day.  The teams were beginning their descent from the crater rim around 7:20 am.  Once back at Camp Muir they will rest, re-hydrate, repack and continue their descent, another 4.5 miles and 4,500', to Paradise.

Nice work today team and congratulations!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Alan Davis reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7 am today.  Alan reported light winds, clear skies. It took the team just under 6 hours to top out via the current route up Disappointment Cleaver. The team is en route back to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to today's team! 

Friday, July 9, 2021 - 12:04 am

It did not seem like it was going to happen today.  We woke up groggily to find ourselves in the middle of a small tent village. The remaining teams on the mountain -six guided groups- were now all collected at Kahiltna Base Camp, waiting to fly out. None of us had made the top -the season end was just a nonstop progression of storms. Including the one that cloaked us in cloud and light snow for much of the day.  We had already eaten a mountain dinner and were getting ready for another night in tents when airplanes started coming in through holes in the clouds.  We packed sleeping bags, tents, pots, and pans… all in an instant and loaded into K2 Aviation’s beautiful Otters.  And at 9:30PM we lifted off the glacier and caught the red eye into Talkeetna. Eventually we were out of the snow and ice and rock and flying effortlessly over impossibly green landscapes. 

We have got a day left of drying and sorting gear and traveling, but tonight we shower and sleep in beds!

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 9:30 pm PT

The winds trailed off during the night -at our level, at least- but we got steady snow for most of the day.  We sat in place at 14,200 ft. With the continued poor forecast, we are now just looking for a reasonable break in the storms to start moving downward. While it is a tough thing to give up our summit dreams for 2021, it is at least something of an easy call… the mountain simply has not given us an opening.  We are still in an amazingly beautiful place, which we remember each time the clouds thin. And we have still got plenty of mountain climbing -albeit of the downward variety- to do before we’re done. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Monday, July 5, 2021 - 9:50 pm PT

Score one for the weathermen.  They weren’t kidding about this storm.  It is real.  Came in during the night and by morning it was snowing and blowing and we couldn’t see much.  There wasn’t any question of moving camp up to 17,000 ft.  In fact, we retreated somewhat.  Just after breakfast, RMI Guides Dominic and Matt geared up for the toughest of missions.  They trudged out into the teeth of the storm to climb up to retrieve our food cache on the West Buttress.  Yes, we were proud to have just placed it there two days ago, but now we can’t afford to be separated from those supplies should avalanche conditions set up in the coming days… which seems likely.  The guys had hard going, breaking trail in rapidly accumulating snow.  At the 16,000 ft ridge crest they were dealing with winds easily in the 50 mph range, the kind that sound like jet engines even from way down here at 14k.  We had plenty strong winds in camp, but of course we were in shelter and comfy, warm and dry.  Dom and Matt grabbed the cache and bolted safely back to camp in a total of four very difficult hours.  But their work significantly eased our ability to meet our new primary goal: riding out the storm. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 9:47 pm PT

Our team took a holiday today!  We slept in and breakfasted slowly as the sun washed over camp at 9:30AM.  As predicted, conditions at 14,000 were calm today while winds appeared to work over the summit. We enjoyed our rest but it was a bit of a tough day for morale. A number of the remaining teams on the mountain are in the process of quitting and going down without the summit. The forecasts are calling for a progression of storms to roll through in the coming week.  We’re hoping the forecasts are wrong… but clouds are building up again this evening.  It was already going to be tough to see the fireworks with twentyfour hour daylight.

Happy Independence Day from the highest mountain in the land. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 9:15 pm PT

There was still a big cloud cap on Denali this morning, but at 6AM the winds didn’t seem too bad.  There were clouds in every other direction as well, but we were mostly looking up at the West Buttress as we ate breakfast and pondered a carry.  It seemed worth a shot.  We pulled the trigger and left camp just after 8 AM.  It was colder this morning than it had been… not extremely cold, but colder than we’ve yet experienced on the trip.  Our tracks -and anyone else’s- from yesterday were gone, so we had the added challenge of trail breaking in a few inches of new snow.  Even so, we made steady progress upward.  But the cloud cap made steady progress downward, so we were bound to come together.  We were in murk and light but cold winds by the base of the fixed ropes.  Which all made for a cold intro to climbing the steep, icy rope section.  Thankfully, the winds were blowing from behind us and so we stepped into much needed calm at our destination, which was just perfectly in the lee and sheltered by the crest of the West Buttress.  It was wonderful to hit our 16,200 ft target, but the clouds hid the grand views.  We quickly cached supplies and geared up for a descent facing into the cool wind.  A careful descent got us to 14,200 ft camp just as the sun came out there at 2:30 PM.  The afternoon and evening were calm and easy with occasional snow showers. The storm is definitely easing, but of course they are predicting that another will follow.  We’ll rest tomorrow in any case. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn