Entries By dave hahn

Friday, June 18, 2021 - 10:18 pm PT

It is usually a good sign when the easy part goes smooth and easy.  Our team of seven climbers and guides flew in and met up in Alaska without a hitch.  It was cloudy and overcast as we drove up from Anchorage, but not so much that we couldn’t get glimpses of the big mountains up mingling with the cloud tops.  We stopped briefly in Wasilla for a few final provisions from the world of supermarkets, and then cruised on up the Parks Highway to the Talkeetna spur road.  After settling our gear at the airplane hangar and ourselves at the hotel, we braved mosquito hoards and labor shortages to find a fine dinner at the West Rib.  A well-fed climbing team then waddled out to the banks of the great Susitna River to see if the mountains had come out.  Not quite, but we judged it all to be good enough for day one. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

RMI Dave Hahn radioed from the Summit of Mt. Rainier at 9:45 am PT today! Recent storms have deposited about two feet of new snow on the mountian. The team climbed strong to break trail, and the view from the top was the big pay-off!

The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to Today's Team! 

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by Dave Hahn and Andy Bond, reached the summit at 6:30 this morning!  The teams had some wind and clear blue skies on their ascent.  They are currently working their way back to Camp Muir and we look forward to congratulating them at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.

The Four Day Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Alex Halliday reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  The guides reported light winds and great climbing conditions. They have left the crater and started their descent back to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to Today's Teams! 

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Dustin Wittmier began on Sunday May 9th with the team meeting at Rainier BaseCamp for a full day orientation.  With gear checked, sorted and packed they departed Paradise on Monday morning en route to Camp Muir.  For the last two days they have based out of Camp Muir working on mountaineering techniques to prepare them for a summit climb of Mt. Rainier and more.  Today they got their chance to test their skills climbing to the summit of Mt. Rainier.   Just before 8 am PT, RMI Guide Dave Hahn radioed that the teams were ten minutes from the crater rim.  He reported perfect conditions with light and variable winds, and an overall nice and sunny day.  After they enjoy some time in the crater and get all the photo ops, the group will start their descent and return to Camp Muir for their final night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the teams will descend to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp.  The weather has been great all week and we hope they enjoyed their time on the mountain.

Congratulations to today Seminar teams!

The Five Day Climb May 1 - 5 led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and JM Gorum has returned to Camp Muir after making their summit attempt today.  The team reached 12,600' today before being forced to turn around due to route conditions.  On Tuesday the group ascended to Camp Muir and spent time yesterday getting in more glacier training and exploring parts of the route before morning their attempt this morning.  The group will pack up their gear and decend to Paradise this afternoon.

We had sunshine and calm conditions at 7 AM in highcamp today... which was better than the forecast called for.  There was still plenty of cloud about, but we decided to go for the summit.  It took until 9:50 to get fully fueled up and geared up for climbing, and by then a few more clouds had rolled in though we still had a good feeling about the day.  Vinson put up a fight, of course, and a few of the team were feeling effects of the altitude and so not everybody topped out.  Those that did, made it up in about 8 hours, spent nearly an hour on the summit and came down in just a couple more for a respectable round trip under 11 hrs.  The conditions swung between sunny and calm, breezy and cloudy and everything in between... all at temps of about -20 to -25 Fahrenheit, so our rest breaks were short and business like so as to keep fingers and toes flexible.  We enjoyed views of the tall and jagged peaks to Vinson’s north, and when the mountains were obscured, the sculpted cloud formations covering them were spectacular.  On top of Antarctica’s highest mountain, the team lucked out with calm and sunny “gloves off” conditions for photos, fist bumps and flag waving.  By 8:30 PM the gang was all back together at high camp.  We spent a few hours brewing up, eating, drinking and laughing.  A most memorable New Years Day was had by all. 
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn

On The Map

We woke to the same thick blanket of cloud concealing the mountaintops and the sun and the blue sky.  The good thing was that blanket held in a little more heat than normal, so getting started wasn’t particularly mean and cold.  We ate breakfast, caught the forecast passed on from the meteorological folks at Union Glacier, and debated what to do about it.  Our decision, since we had no sign or signal that the wind was blowing, was to push up into the cloud and make our move to high camp.  It took until 1:00 PM to bust camp and be packed, but that worked just fine.  There were occasional snowflakes falling, and we were certainly on the lookout for deteriorating weather, but all-in-all, conditions were stable and we pressed on.  We took a short break at yesterday’s high point and then moved higher up the steep snow slope without much at all for views.  It was a little like climbing inside a milk bottle.  Our boldness was rewarded when we topped out the ropes to find calm and easy conditions (although still cloudy) on the plateau.  We pulled into high camp at 6:30, for a respectable five and a half hour push to 12,500 ft.  The gang found it tough going... it worked us in about 12 different and mean ways, but everybody set to building camp with good energy and enthusiasm.  By that point we’d put on all the big and puffy clothing -down coats and down pants- which seemed just right for our cold new home.  We filed into ALE’s good, strong cooking and dining tent and had a deluxe session of hot drinks, dinner, and strategizing for tomorrow.  We hope the calm holds and that we can take a good shot at the top to start 2020 off right.  
All of us want to wish our friends and loved ones the very warmest and best wishes for their own celebrations.  Happy New Year!

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

The sun came around the mountain at 10 AM today, which was also about the time we got out of our sleeping bags and unzipped the tents.  There was a faint breeze keeping things cool, but we clambered into the dining tent for a leisurely breakfast/brunch/lunch.  By the time we waddled out and suited up for climbing it was 2 PM.  Yesterday, although we were roped to one another for glacier travel, it was just walking with ski poles.  Today, we had on crampons and carried ice axes.  It only took a few minutes to get to the base of the fixed ropes where we paused briefly to rig up and review techniques for climbing steep snow.  The goal was “lunch ledge” about an hour up the lines.  We were starting to get some pretty good views of our surroundings -including a cloud bank pushing in from the northwest.  By the time we’d descended, the clouds were covering the summits and blocking out the sun.  Luckily there wasn’t any wind to go with this change in our weather.  We were back in camp by 5 PM and set in for an evening of snacking and rehydration.  Dinner was fashionably late at 8:45 PM and we were back in the tents by 10 PM.  The plan is to move to highcamp tomorrow if the weather holds and everybody has stayed healthy.

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Yesterday’s perfect weather became today’s perfect weather.  Strong sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and no sign of wind.  We got good rest last night to make up for all of the travel nights and didn’t roll into breakfast until 9 AM.  Murph took excellent care of us with eggs, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit and coffee.  Then we dug into our many packing and organizing chores.  It is no small thing to shift from jet-setting in a sleek Gulfstream IV to old fashioned walking on a glacier with a week of supplies on our backs and in our sleds... but we managed just fine.  Five rope teams of three set out at 1:50 PM.  An hour later, at the first rest break, we all agreed that it was too darn hot in Antarctica.  This was partly an illusion.  The air temps were still well below freezing, but without a breeze and with plenty of hard work, we were sweating.  Conditions were perfect for travel though.  We had a well-packed and generally smooth trail in the snow without any open crevasses to negotiate.  We took a second break at the start of a 90 degree turn in the glacier and a third under the 2,000 meter great western escarpment of Vinson.  By then we were getting good looks at the sharp and dramatic summits north of Vinson.  We had great views of Epperly, Gardner and Shinn -the fifth, fourth, and third highest peaks of Antarctica.  We pulled into 9,200 ft Low Camp in 4.5 hours time and set to building tents and moving in.  Lakpa, Pachi, and Namgya hosted a great dinner of chicken curry with rice in their spacious dining tent.  We sat to sip hot drinks and chat for a bit but as we each began to feel the cold, we retired to warm sleeping bags.  The tents are good and comfortable with sun projected to be on them until 3 AM -it then goes behind the mountain and we expect the big chill to take over.  We’ll rest and do a little training and acclimatizing tomorrow. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map