Entries By dave hahn
December 14, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Today was just plain easy. The weather was fine, the flight to Chile is still on for tomorrow, the food was plentiful... stress was low, all around. We played games, attended history lectures, rested and talked endlessly with adventurers, explorers and climbers. The dining tent at
Union Glacier is an international crossroads beyond compare. It isn’t uncommon to hear a different language -or two-
at each table as one passes through with platefuls of fresh fruit and veggies flown onto the Ice from South America. Life is way easier here than out at Vinson, but we’re still talking animatedly about summit day there... or about the storms that challenged us. But now we’re also starting to talk about travel plans and what might be next... for climbing or visiting or just for living. If all goes well, we could be back in Punta Arenas tomorrow night, which would require lots of switching gears and reconnecting with the world. For tonight though, we’re still sleeping on snow in a world of our own.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
December 13, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
And just like that... everything started moving again. The storm ended exactly on schedule. By 6:30 AM High Camp was calm and sunny and we started brewing up. We packed and dug our gear out of the snow. We shook pounds of ice and frost out of the tents before stuffing them in their sacks. With crampons on one last time, we departed at 10 AM. After seeing virtually nothing for days, the scenery today was welcome and spectacular. We made good time down the fixed ropes in the morning shadow. Lindsay led the charge, pulling the lines free of the wind slabbed snow for a good chunk of the route. At Low Camp, we re-tooled and set up for hauling sleds. No more crampons and ice axes, it was time to switch back to ski poles. By this point we’d been made aware that there were seats on an airplane out of Vinson Base just for us... provided that we got our tails down there in time. We had the lower mountain pretty much to ourselves for the next few hours of trudging through the frozen beauty of the Branscomb Glacier. There was just time enough on reaching base to hastily organize gear before the Twin Otter floated in to a perfect landing. We said our goodbyes to the mountain and the ALE staff at
Vinson Base Camp and climbed aboard. Back at Union Glacier, we got out in early evening to a far easier environment... hard packed level snow, mild temps and walk-in tents with tables and chairs. We caught up to the gang of Vinson climbers we’d originally gone to the mountain with. It was a pleasant reunion with guests and staff and everybody trading notes on weather at the top of Antarctica, out at the penguins, back in the Alps or off in the Himalaya. Word is that an Ilyushin flight may be inbound for us the day after tomorrow... on the 15th. Better late than never. In any case, my team is looking forward to a low altitude night without a storm tearing at the tents. Union is certainly good enough for now.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
December 12, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 12,400'
Still at
High Camp. True to the predictions, today was a lot like yesterday. Windy, snowy, socked-in, cold and consistently poor for going places. We passed the day in our sleeping bags, with a little more frost and snow building up in the tents each and every hour. But we are still smiling. We’re fed. We’re hydrated. Well-rested, tanned and ready for action. This evening, although we are still in murk and a ground blizzard, the peaks are out. Cloud free and shining in sunlight. The forecasters back at Union Glacier tell us we are in store for rapid clearing and calming tomorrow. In which case we’ll shake off the frost and get moving again.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
December 11, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar Vinson Massif
Elevation: 12,300'
Our summit has clearly angered the mountain gods. We woke to a blizzard at 12,300 ft. Not the worst blizzard though, winds are steady at about 25 mph, visibility is barely to the neighboring tents, the air is chock full of snow -at least some of which is “falling” from the cloud we are in. Moving -even to lower and more comfortable climates and airplanes- was out of the question. Besides, on the radio at midday it sounded heinous at
Low Camp, with fifty-knot gusts and busted tents. So we sat put. Our tents are holding up well, although great quantities of snow and frost seem to find their way inside. We recovered from yesterday’s climb with bed rest and hot meals and coffee and cocoa. A small price to pay for a visit to the highest point on the continent.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
December 10, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 16,067'
We made it to the summit of
Vinson today! In the nick of time as it turned out. While our time of ascent was a blazing fast seven hours, the mountain was anything but easy today. We started with blue skies, bright sun and a nagging 10 mph breeze when the stoves were fired shortly after seven this morning. That breeze made things like fastening harnesses and crampons quite cold. We roped up and got moving at 9:45 hoping to lose the wind as we got into the protection of the valley glacier that would take us to the summit. That worked a little, things were reduced to occasional gusts. Those gusts increased in frequency and force as we got up near 15,000 ft. By the time we were scrambling onto the summit ridge, it was blowing a more or less steady 30 mph. We worked pretty hard to keep each other’s faces frost free and to keep sunglasses and ultimately goggles from fogging up. Hitting the top at 4:45 was a thrill, but not at all one we could linger over. We squeezed off just a couple of photos (which we’ll post after getting back to the Wi-Fi world) but it really wasn’t the day for bare hands on the summit. We set out to get off the ridge and down to high camp. This was accomplished in about three hours, during which we watched winds increase and a storm move into the Ellsworth Mountains. At 8:00 when we pulled into camp, the sun was in the clouds and winds were rock steady at about 20 mph, moving plenty of snow around. The victory dinner was in tents as it is far from pleasant at High Camp tonight. We snuck this one in... now to get down the mountain.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
December 9, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 12,300'
Today was just right for moving. We were up and getting ready shortly after the ten thirty sun hit the tents. Launch time was 12:50 PM and with perfect conditions, we made steady and excellent progress. Certainly the 2,000 vertical feet of the fixed lines were still difficult with heavy packs, but we had the benefit of being on familiar ground. We cruised into
High Camp at 6 PM, still feeling strong, but also noticing just how much colder it is up around 12,300 ft. We dressed up and built camp, got stoves going and sat down out in the sunshine for dinner. The views from here are other-worldly, with ice stretching beyond the visible horizon in any direction and mountains rising to ridiculously sharp summits all around. The teams we waited with at Union Glacier all hit the summit today and we greeted them each with a “congratulations” and a fist bump when they rolled into camp on their return.
Perhaps we’ll get as lucky tomorrow. We will be ready.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
December 8, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 9,100'
Still just a bit breezy up high. The teams at
High Camp reported steady 15 knot winds but thing looked a lot better from Low Camp today, the giant airwave lenticular cloud to the west of the mountains was gone and we had high hopes for going high if the snow streamers off the ridge died down. They did, a little later than we would have liked but we decided to break camp and make the move. We only got to the base of the fixed ropes before deciding to give it one more day. The team wasn’t firing on all cylinders and the continuing cold winds above the fixed ropes could make the last hours into High Camp quite difficult. We set up Low Camp again and set our sights on tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
December 7, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 9,100'
Today was a lot like yesterday. We were up at the crack of 10:30, and despite fine conditions where we were it was windy where we wanted to go. Again, we ate breakfast and watched for some sign of calming. We talked via radio to the three teams holding on at H
igh Camp who confirmed that they were holding on. We bided our time, buffed out our snow camp and chatted with the guides and climbers of the only other group at Low Camp. We read, drank water, watched TV, napped, cut snow blocks and watched the sun collide with the stationary lenticular cloud in the western sky. Just like yesterday, it made for a chilly afternoon and evening. But a pretty one. Each time we came out of the cook tent or one of the sleeping tents, there was the temptation to just stare, slack-jawed, at Vinson’s immense rock wall, or Shinn’s delicate summit, or Epperly’s rarely traveled vertical gullies.
We’ll get our chance to go upstairs soon enough and we’ll be ready to make the most of it.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
December 6, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 9,100'
We thought we were moving up to
High Camp today. No dice. It was too windy up high. Although it was sunny and calm where we stood at Low Camp, we could see big streamers of snow jetting out from the ridge we wanted to be on. We packed up about halfway anyway and ate breakfast watching to see if things eased. Radio communications with the teams already at High Camp confirmed that it was miserable and cold up there and that they were just in hunker-down-and-wait mode. We did the same, without the misery. If anything, the wind got a little worse in the early afternoon, chasing snowy dust devils all the way to the base of the fixed ropes. We thought for a time that the wind might work on over to Low Camp, but we were spared. The afternoon did get a bit cold though when the sun ran into a high stationary cloud sitting west of the mountains. My team took it all in stride, retreating to books and sleeping bags for a second rest day. In other places, such winds wouldn’t be a big deal and you could push on through, but with the colder temperatures we deal with down here, there’d be too much chance of frostbite and hypothermia. We’ll wait for a better day.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
December 5, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 9,100'
Today was perfect from start to finish. Perfect for resting and catching up on our acclimatization and hydration. It was another cloudless and windless day, at
Low Camp -that is- our radio check-in with basecamp revealed that they were in fog down below. But we had fine weather and a forecast for more of the same. We had a leisurely breakfast followed by prolonged snacking and napping. The troops were instructed to down a few liters each of water as their primary chore for the day. After a couple of longer, tougher days, this was a welcome change and we hope the rest sets us up well for the move to higher altitude tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations to all ! Thanks for sharing your trip.
Posted by: David Clemmons on 12/15/2017 at 8:13 am
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