Entries By dave hahn

June 24, 2023 10:41pm PT

It was an easy, restful day for our team today. We slept in, lingered over breakfast, and then set out at 11:20 to retrieve our cache above Windy Corner. In short order, we were back in camp and headed for the shelter of the tents as the afternoon sun got strong.

There were still lots of clouds and wind elsewhere, but we were certainly happy with the weather at 14k.  Even so, we built snow block walls around camp after dinner, just in case forecasted winds materialize.

RMI Guides Dave Hahn, Dustin Wittmier, Sam Marjerison, Michael Murray and Team

Friday, June 23, 2023 – 12:33 am PDT

As usual, the weather didn't look all that great when we got up at 11,000’ Camp, so we dragged our feet while getting breakfast and packing up and watched things evolve.

We eventually committed to moving up and hit the trail at 11:20 AM.  Hard work, as usual, but the team handled it all quite well. We had good luck in that Dominic Cifelli’s RMI Team was ahead of us breaking trail. It was fine to see RMI Guide Andy Bond's and crew coming down and we wished them a safe trip out.

We pulled in to 14,000’ Camp at 5:30 PM and began the tough work of building another camp. We ate outside this evening but will have the dining tent completed for AM.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Thursday, June 22. 2023 10:57 PM PDT

There were signs of improvement - or simply a change in the weather. It was still snowing a little and blowing a little, but it wasn't all that cold. We watched clouds and wind for a while, then pulled the trigger.

We set out from 11,000’ Camp at 11 AM and made fine progress up Motorcycle and Squirrel Hills. The Polo Field put up a little resistance, we had to break trail through new snow to reach Windy Corner at 13,200 ft. The clouds denied us the big views. But we were excited to see Denali's South Peak and the West Buttress as we came around the corner and reached our 13,500’ goal for the day. We cached gear and got moving downhill with lighter packs, pulling back into 11,000’ Camp by 6 PM.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team

Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - 10:38 pm PT

Another storm day at 11,000'. Though not the worst storm, mostly cloud and snow without a lot of wind where we are... but of course that is why we are camped here. We did a long and slow breakfast, sipping coffee and telling stories. We hung out in our tents, napping, reading and watching tv and then it was burrito night. We celebrated Mitch's birthday and celebrated solstice in our snowstorm.  We hope to get climbing again soon but we need the storm to move along first.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - 9:45 pm PT

Snow day at 11,000'.  Thankfully the wind calmed down as we went to bed last night.  Through the night and much of today it was just light snow and a lot of cloud. As we ate dinner and told each other stories in the dining tent, the storm ramped up and now, as we climb in tents for the night, it is officially DUMPING snow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Monday, June 19, 2023 - 10:07 pm PT

At 5 AM there were already some signs of the storm coming in up high but thankfully it was calm where we were. We left camp at 7:30 and gained 1,000' in 90 minuntes.  We put up camp at 11,000' right next to Dom's RMI team and dug in deep.  By midday it was snowing and the wind was coming up.  We sat out the afternoon in tents. Dinner was in our dining tent in reasonably good shelter as it got a bit meaner outside. We saw a number of unsuccessful teams passing through headed down. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, June 18, 2023 - 10:02 pm PT

A much better start to the day today.  We made good use of it and were on the trail by 6:50.  Glacier conditions continue to be excellent with few crevasses. We intended to move to 9,500 ft but the team was doing so well that we pushed on up to 10,000 at Kahiltna Pass. Word is that a storm will hit tomorrow evening. We wanted to be closer to the shelter of 11,000' Camp and took the precaution of sending Dustin, Michael and Sam up with food and fuel to lighten loads tomorrow. They were back in camp at 6pm. We enjoyed dinner together in the dining tent. The fathers on the team told of their children as we marked Father's Day on Denali.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

June 17, 2023 10:50 PM PT

It was snowing again at 4 AM when we hoped to get up for climbing. We checked it repeatedly in the following hours but didn't feel good about what we saw.

Eventually, the snow quit, but by then we'd have been pushing up three hours of hill in the hottest part of the day. We decided to call it a rest day instead.

It ended up sunny and hot in the tents and we napped, read and snacked our way through the day.  We'll try again tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was snowing at Kahiltna Base last night when we wanted to get going, so we pushed back the wake-up time to a leisurely 4 AM. Conditions improved as we ate breakfast in the shadows. We were climbing by 6:50 AM. Conditions were excellent due to recent snows and cold temps.

The dreaded crevasse crossings of the lower Kahiltna Glacier were practically nonexistent.  Sled pulling was quite easy (relatively speaking), though everything was heavy as usual.  We reached our intended camp at ski hill in five hours and built a fine home. We dove into tents to beat the afternoon sun.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and team

Thursday, June 15, 2023 - 9:20 pm  PT

We couldn't hang around Talkeetna long enough for breakfast this morning.  Denali was calling and we heeded the call.  We snacked as we were gearing up to fly. The planes took off at 9 AM and at about 9:45 we were in basecamp unloading.  We built camp.  It is pleasantly cool for mid June.  We made it a training day.   We watched airplanes and helicopters come and go as we reviewed glacier travel techniques.  Tomorrow we're going climbing.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn