July 11, 2015 7:58 pm PST
All enjoyed the "low" altitude sleep at 11,000 ft last night. Such a relief from the past few days at higher and colder locales. As was always the plan, we chose to stay in place today in order to get on a night-time schedule for exiting the lower Kahiltna Glacier. It was a fine day for resting, even as the weather seemed to deteriorate around us. Our hope was that clear skies and a cool night would make travel safer (from a crevasse standpoint) and easier. That might not happen tonight as there is still plenty of cloud, but we'll get up at midnight and head for our pickup point anyway. As usual, we'll need good luck and good weather to get down and off the mountain.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks to Dave Hahn and his assistants for the successful climb to the summit. Job well done by all. We deeply enjoyed the daily reports, Dave. Thank you. Gary, your Dad & I have been getting into shape to climb next year with Dave next year. Keep in mind we didn’t say which Dave. Looking forward seeing you in St.Louis. Come home safe. Hugs and Lots of Love.
CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks to Dave Hahn and his assistant making the climb a success for the team. Gary, we are super proud of your success. Dad & I are practicing the hill in Ohio, getting in shape to be on Dave’s team next year. Keep in mind we didn’t say which Dave. Looking forward to seeing our son in St. Louis. Hugs & Lots of Love.
Posted by: Dad & Mom ROSS on 7/13/2015 at 1:24 pm
Gary/Team Hahn: Absolute CONGRATULATIONS. Enjoy the moments of VICTORY!!!!!!!
Saturday, July 11, 2015 - 2:50 am PT
What a difference 24 hours makes. Yet again, we all worked late, yet again it is 1:30 AM. But we've got plenty to show for our labor. We began the day at 17,000 ft, blessed again with perfect weather. We are ending the day down at 11,000 ft in the clouds. It was tough work and we had plenty of dangerous steps to get just right, but we negotiated each of them safely. There was the airy walk along the crest of the West Buttress, the steep and strenuous fixed ropes, the awkward side hill of Windy Corner, the new snow to plod through on the Polo Field and Squirrel Hill and a few well disguised crevasses to sidestep on Motorcycle Hill. Done. Almost. Now for some rest and a cruise out the lower glacier.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Friday, July 10, 2015 - 2:14 am PT
Hey, This is Dave Hahn calling from 17,000 feet on Mt. McKinley. It's about 10 minutes after 1 in the morning. We had a big day yesterday, on the 9th of July. We summitted Mount McKinley! It was a beautiful day, start to finish, nice and calm and sunny, clouds down below. It was perfect climbing conditions, but it was hard climbing conditions, we had to break trail. We shared that work with a few of the other guided teams that were up here. That made all the difference; breaking trail through new snow and being able to trade off that job. But it still took a long time, I think we were out for 14 hours today. We were on the the top at 6:45 until 7:15. It was beautiful up there, really wonderful day, and all of our team made it. I believe that means that RMI is 100% for this season; all of the RMI summit teams have made it. That's just about it for the Denali season, the groups that we were going to the top with today were some of the last. I think there's maybe one more team that is a day from being in position. So far so good for us, we're up at 17k for now and we'll head off the West Buttress tomorrow. But, it really turned around, turned nice for us in these last couple days and we're very appreciative.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from 17 Camp after reaching the summit of Mt. McKinley.
Hooray for everyone on Team Hahn. Impressive on any day, but especially digging new trail. What an accomplishment. Peter you rock!
Posted by: Laura Taft Paulsen on 7/11/2015 at 2:39 pm
CONGRATULATIONS to Gary and Team Hahn! Very glad your summit day was so beautiful. Can’t wait to heat the stories Gary. Hope your trek back is beautiful too. - Rob
Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - 10:51 pm PT
No forecast could have predicted a day as nice as the one we just had, and certainly none did. They were calling for more snow, and perhaps it was snowing below the immense blanket of clouds that we looked down on all day. But right from our 6 am start at 14,200' Camp, it was nothing but calm, blue sky and sunshine - where we were and up above where we wanted to be. We got climbing just after 9 am and made excellent progress, reaching our previous high point in a little over three hours. We then worked up the crest of the West Buttress, climbing steep snow with a hand on perfect granite from time to time. There was plenty to concentrate on to ensure safe climbing, but there were also moments devoted to pure pleasure, gazing down at ridiculously steep drop offs and at the gigantic faces of neighboring mountains. We rolled into 17,200' Camp after about six hours and fifteen minutes on the route. This gave us plenty of time in the strong afternoon sunshine to build a strong camp and eat a good dinner. We are all ready to go climbing to the top tomorrow if the great weather continues.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations! You did it. We’re mighty proud of you and the team. Thanks to the team guides. Job well done, by all. We are at Bill’s home using his computer. Dad called Karen to tell her, You made it to the summit. CONGRATULATIONS1 AGAIN AND AGAIN. May all of you follow the same FOOT PRINTS in the SNOW coming down the mountain. We Love You lots and lots. You’ll get a Super Big HUG WHEN WE SEE YOU.
Posted by: Dad & Mom Ross on 7/10/2015 at 8:20 pm
I hope everything went well and you made summit. Congratulation!!!! To all of you!!!
Keep safe and come back home
Posted by: Iza Smolokowska on 7/10/2015 at 6:35 am
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - 10:56 pm PT
Not surprisingly, this morning wasn't quite right for moving higher. It was socked in, snowing and a little blustery through the night. By morning, the blustery part was finished at 14 Camp, but we could hear the big winds still raking the crest of the West Buttress, a few thousand feet overhead. The team met for pancakes in the POSH and then dispersed to do camp chores and more wall building. In the afternoon, as the storm seemed to be losing a little energy, RMI Guides Steve Gately and JM Gorum raced up to 16,200' to fetch back some of our cached food. With the extended forecast being a little sloppy, we want more supplies at 14,000' just in case avalanche conditions should develop between here and the cache site. They were up and down again in less than two hours. As we ate dinner, the upper mountain weather continued to improve. By bedtime, there was plenty of optimism that despite the forecasts, we'd get the break we need for moving to high camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Every extra day waiting for safe conditions to ascend is another day to spend soaking up the wisdom of Master Hahn. And pretty soon you’ll all be snow masons with the great walls you’ve been building. Good luck all on the next stage of the journey!
Posted by: Charlie Thomas on 7/8/2015 at 7:40 pm
we anxiously await the climax to the summit but happy to hear of the precautions taken by the team leaders…thinking about you Pat!
Posted by: mom and dad grengs on 7/8/2015 at 12:36 pm
Hi all!
Billy here checking in for the last time from this year's Denali expedition. Our team showed tremendous poise after our butt kicking on our first summit attempt and rested through another marginal day on the way to our eventual summit day that was absolutely beautiful. We encountered some moderate winds in the 30 mph range but generally enjoyed clear skies and decently warm temps. It took us just over 12 hours of solid work to make the round trip mission from our high camp at 17,000' and the whole team was pretty worked by the end. The next morning we awoke at a leisurely hour, packed up camp and descended the West Buttress back to Camp 4 at 14,000' where we were greeted by Dave Hahn's expedition with cheesy bacon quesadillas! Quite the treat... After picking up our cache at 14 we continued down through extremely deep snow to 11,000' where we ended up camping again because the team was pretty wasted yet again. Our final day on the mountain was surprisingly clear with only occasional sections of whiteout as we marched down the Kahiltna towards Basecamp. Except for a little excitement involving a crevasse fall the trip was mostly a slog. And as we arrived at the lower airstrip around 6 pm we could see the runway markers of the upper airstrip but were relieved to hear from Lisa that we wouldn't need to travel any further. K2 was already on the way and going to land right next to us. And just like that we were in the land of the living slamming burgers and downing beers with all of the tourists in Talkeetna. Talk about a culture shock! Needless to say, the gang went big rocking the Fairview and ended up closing down the Teepee (and nearly getting kicked out!). A proper way to end a successful Denali expedition. Too much fun!
I'd like to thank both Mike King and Sean Collon for their hard work and the good times and the rest of the team members for persevering despite crummy weather forecasts and tough odds. It's a trip I won't forget for a while.
See ya next year!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent.
Monday July 6th 11:23 pm PT
Our rest day at 14,200 ft was jam packed with naps and meals in the POSH tent. It wouldn't have been a great day for moving higher anyway since we watched a storm take over the upper mountain. Steve Gately led the team out to the "Edge of the World" before the clouds came around and each climber got the thrill of looking down thousands of feet to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. In the late afternoon, we all put in a work session to improve the snow walls protecting our tents. By dinner, the storm had arrived at 14K Camp and snow and wind took over outside. We'd love to move up tomorrow so we'll hope this weather moves on through.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Sunday July 5th 10:26 pm PT
We started walking uphill at 10 this morning. There was a mean-looking cloudcap on Denali when we first looked up, but things mellowed as we ate breakfast and geared up. We made excellent time, climbing up the fixed line section to 16,200 ft on the West Buttress, and in the process, we shattered altitude records for Gary, Peter and Pat. It took a few minutes to cache food in a raven-proof snow hole up there and then we cruised down with light packs. It turned out to be a sunny and warm day down at 14K Camp and we were happy to rack out for a few hours in warm tents before dinner. We've earned a rest and acclimatization day tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Super news! Congrats Peter for crushing previous heights, and for bravely climbing to new ones. We are all pulling for you down here at sea level with kayaks and paddle boards as our adventure travel. Be safe and keep warm.
Posted by: Laura Taft Paulsen on 7/7/2015 at 7:30 am
Sunday July 5th 10:45 am PTRMI Guide Billy Nugent just called the office to check in. The team had a long, tough day yesterday breaking trail through the new snow that had fallen on the route. After sleeping in this morning, they are getting ready to depart Denali's 11K Camp. They are hoping to be at Kahiltna Base by late afternoon/early evening.
Saturday July 4th 11:00 pm PT
Our first morning at 14K camp was calm and easy. We slept in until the sun peaked over Denali's West Rib at 9:15 AM. We had a leisurely breakfast in our new POSH dining tent (stolen from Billy Nugent's RMI Team) and then we geared up for retrieving our cached food, fuel and equipment from 13,500 ft. That just took us about two hours, round trip, and then the team took it easy for the afternoon. Billy Nugent's team made the top yesterday and we were happy to share camp with them for a couple of hours as they passed through on their descent to 11,000 ft. After dinner, we had a short refresher training session on climbing fixed ropes as of course that is our next goal, to climb the fixed ropes to 16,200 ft. As usual, we'll need to see what the weather does... it started snowing again this afternoon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks to Dave Hahn and his assistants for the successful climb to the summit. Job well done by all. We deeply enjoyed the daily reports, Dave. Thank you. Gary, your Dad & I have been getting into shape to climb next year with Dave next year. Keep in mind we didn’t say which Dave. Looking forward seeing you in St.Louis. Come home safe. Hugs and Lots of Love.
CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks to Dave Hahn and his assistant making the climb a success for the team. Gary, we are super proud of your success. Dad & I are practicing the hill in Ohio, getting in shape to be on Dave’s team next year. Keep in mind we didn’t say which Dave. Looking forward to seeing our son in St. Louis. Hugs & Lots of Love.
Posted by: Dad & Mom ROSS on 7/13/2015 at 1:24 pm
Gary/Team Hahn: Absolute CONGRATULATIONS. Enjoy the moments of VICTORY!!!!!!!
All the best for now,
Chip
Posted by: chip snffin on 7/12/2015 at 5:59 pm
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