Entries By dave hahn

Thursday, June 15, 2023 - 7:38 am PT

Talkeetna was cloudy and sometimes rainy but our team used the day to get all set for a Denali expedition.  We started with a team breakfast meeting and then moved out to the hangar on the Talkeetna airstrip for getting organized.  Guides and climbers set to work organizing both group gear and personal equipment.  Finishing touches were made to the 22 day food supply.  We stood outside for a briefing from National Park Service rangers on safety and environmental procedures. 

We were happy to watch our fellow climbers in Dominic Cifelli’s RMI team load up and take off for Kahiltna Base as the weather improved.  Our day finished with a weigh-in and final division of the supplies into two piles for two airplanes.  We met for dinner in town to relax and talk once more on strategy for the climb. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 13, 2023 - 11:11 pm PT

All present and accounted for in Talkeetna, Alaska.  Most of us came together in the Anchorage airport this afternoon.  Some traveled today, others in the proceeding days. We joined forces for the van ride up to Talkeetna under overcast and sometimes rainy skies.  We busted up the three hour drive with a pause in Wasilla to round out provisions.  All of this got us in to Talkeetna by about 7 PM.  We did an easy evening of pizza downtown and came back for a rest at the Swiss Alaska Inn.  The real business of the expedition starts tomorrow morning. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The Five Day Climb June 3 - 7 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. After training and climbing the last few days the teams put their training to work. The climbing teams enjoyed some time in the crater before starting their descent around 8:30 am. From the crater rim, RMI Guide Dave Hahn reported a perfect day with no wind and beautiful conditions. The teams will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise later today.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Four Day Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 7:45 am PDT. RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Josh McDowell lead their teams up the Ingraham Direct Route on what Dave Hahn described as a near perfect climbing day. They crossed the crater to reach Columbia Crest, where they celebrated with high fives and selfies before starting their descent.

Congratulations Team! 

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Bryan Mazaika reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:15 am today. Dave reported excellent conditions and the Ingraham Direct route is in great shape. The teams spent about an hour on the summit celebrating and enjoying the views. They are on the descent and will reach Paradise later this afternoon.

Congratulations Team! 

The Four Day Climb May 18 - 21 led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Dave reported broken clouds above with some sunshine coming through and warming the team as they started their descent from the crater rim. There is also a cloud deck below them at around 8,000' this morning. Once back at Camp Muir the teams will repack and take a quick break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to their return to Rainier BaseCamp later today.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Avery Parrinello and the Four Day Climb May 11 - 14 were unable to leave Camp Muir for their summit attempt due to high winds.  Dave reported winds gusting 60-70 mph.  The teams waited, ready to climb, for the winds to dissipate, but no such luck.  

The teams will return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon to conclude their climb.

The Four Day Climb September 1 - 4 teams led by Dave Hahn and Abby Westling climbed to Ingraham Flats this morning and were able to enjoy the sunrise.  The teams were unable to climb higher due to route conditions.  As of 7:45 am all climbers had returned to Camp Muir. They plan to begin their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise around 9:30 am.  Thus the teams should reach Paradise around noon today.  Once back at Rainier BaseCamp they will conclude their program.

It is always tough to leave the Plantation Lodge.  It is just too comfortable and the people are way too kind and friendly.  But we tore ourselves away because of Tarangire National Park.  It is a worthy motivating force… the chance to see incredible numbers and varieties of wildlife on a seemingly unlimited expanse of beautiful land.  We got rolling out of Karatu at 8:30 AM but couldn’t resist a fine shopping opportunity for some Tanzanian keepsakes a short distance out of town.  We still made it out to Tarangire by late morning and immediately began seeing animals and then more animals and more animals still.  At first it was just the flavors we’d already become familiar with (zebra, wildebeest, impala, waterbuck, eagles, vultures, giraffes) but then we started seeing new things.  Family after family of elephants, each with a wee one just a few months old.  We saw a python up a tree.  We saw lions chewing on a zebra. We saw hartebeest and elan and bushbucks and Dik Dik.  We looked up every likely tree for leopards… but they are still hiding from us.  Then we finished the day at  Lokisale Lodge, deep within the park.  The staff gave us a friendly welcome and lit a fire for us to enjoy sunset by.  They warned us gently of the wild animals roaming through the grounds of the lodge and then showed us to our deluxe tent cabins.  We are about to eat our final dinner together, way out in East Africa. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We spent our day in a collapsed volcano.  Ngorongoro Crater didn’t disappoint.  It was a clear morning at our hotel but it was cold and there was still a little cloud hanging around the rim of the caldera (which is at around 10,000 ft).  We did an hour of the usual rough roads to get to the descent road into the crater.  Then we saw two of the “Big Five” species before we’d even made it to the floor of the crater.  There was a big bull elephant with enormous tusks and not too far away there was a sleeping male lion.  Before long we were seeing thousands of zebra, wildebeest, gazelles, Cape buffalo and warthogs.  There were tons of hippos.  The highlights were reckoned to be the Caracal we spied (a medium sized cat with big pointy ears… rarely seen in Ngorongoro) and the pack of hyenas ripping up a Cape Buffalo carcass.  After another great picnic lunch in the field, we went back up to the crater rim to visit a Maasai village.  We watched (and joined in) traditional dances.  We saw the men make fire and throw spears, then we got a tour of the homes within a protective brush enclosure. 

Then we had another 90 minutes of bouncing over dirt roads before we got back to the ultra comfortable Plantation Lodge for the evening. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn