Entries By dave hahn
Today was the perfect catch-up day. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Arumeru River Lodge and then got down to business for a little while with a team meeting. We discussed the climb to come and how to prepare for it. Those preparations didn't take very long and equipment checks were easily completed by lunch. The team took walks through the park-like grounds to see the monkeys, tortoises, exotic birds and dik diks that roamed freely about. Low clouds kept things pleasantly cool but prevented us from catching a glimpse of
Kilimanjaro. Our gang enjoyed the swimming pool, which made up -somewhat- for the limited views. By evening, with all in order for the adventure to come, we simply ate, drank and relaxed... laughing over shared memories of our previous adventures.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Everyone and everything made it through. Through Amsterdam, through immigration, through customs, through the baggage carousels. We've got a climbing team ready to begin the
Kilimanjaro odyssey. These folks all know one another... a good number are related... and absolutely everybody was ready to sleep at midnight when dinner broke up. Long flights and lots of movies, miles and time zones between Taos, New Mexico, USA and Usa River, Tanzania. We'll dive into the details of getting set to climb -tomorrow.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
July 28, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams, led by
Dave Hahn and
Mike Uchal, were on top of Mt. Rainier by 7:30 AM this morning. The team had clear skies and moderate winds, a perfect day to be on the highest point in Washington.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
The
Four Day Summit Climb July 21 - 24 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 6:30 am led by
RMI Guide Dave Hahn. The team enjoyed blue skies and good visibility from the crater rim. They will descend complete today and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon to complete their program.
Congratulations!
July 19, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
At 7:45 this morning,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn radioed as he and his team crested the
Mt. Rainier crater rim. He reported a 10 mph breeze from the Southwest and a great day to be on Washington's highest point. His team as well as
RMI Guide Christina Dale's team began their descent to Camp Muir at 9:00 a.m.
Our final day on
Denali began just an hour after the second-to-last day ended. We were up at 1 AM and walking South by three. The hoped for full-on freeze didn't quite come through. While the glacier surface was a little crunchy under the snowshoes, one still sank in a bit more than we'd have preferred. But half a freeze is better than none when there are crevasse bridges to be crossed. And we crossed about a thousand of them. We did have a few scares as team members broke through to wiggle their legs in the void before hastily crawling topside again. I think all would agree that the morning commute to the airstrip was stressful, brutally tough with big packs, and magically stupendous in terms of scenery and the feeling of accomplishment when it was completed. We were at basecamp no more than ten minutes before the big red beautiful K2 ski otters swooped in and scooped us up at 9:45 AM. The rest of the day was spent in glorious summer down in Talkeetna. We changed into cotton and sandals and sorted stinky gear. Our celebration dinner at the West Rib was a blast. We laughed and toasted for hours. A nightcap at the Fairview and a walk down to the Susitna to see the mountains at midnight made for a perfect ending to a perfect trip.
Thanks for following... we'll do it all again sometime.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
July 5, 2017
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 348'
RMI Guide Dave Hahn has checked in from Talkeetna. The team arrived at the Kahiltna airstrip early this morning and clear skies from Talkeetna allowed the K2 Aviation planes to pick up the crew and return them to Talkeenta.
Dave will send a dispatch later today on the conclusion of their expedition.
Congratulations to the
Denali June 16th Expedition!
July 4, 2017
It was the calm and sunny morning we'd been hoping for at 14,000 ft today. Which certainly made it easier to get up and get sorted for going downhill. Independence Day at 14,000' Camp was so nice that we lingered in camp until just after noon. Then it was walking down, hauling sleds around Windy (but not actually windy) Corner, across the Polo Field, down Squirrel and Motorcycle hills and into 11,000 ft. We dug up our long lost cache there and shifted gears. We swapped out crampons for snowshoes and ice axes for ski poles and the got trudging down toward the
Kahiltna Glacier. It was stunning to come around the corner and to have the entire glacier laid out below us. We dodged s few crevasses on ski hill and reached our old camp at 8,000' by 7:30. Just in time to throw up tents, enjoy a picnic dinner, watch nature's best fireworks show and to hit the hay for a few hours. We'll likely be up at 1 AM and walking by 3 in our quest for travel in cold conditions. We want the glacier well-frozen for the last bit to the airstrip.
I read the blog comments to the team at breakfast this morning (we don't surf the web up here, the comments were cut and pasted into a simple text email to us) and the crew was very happy to hear from so many great friends and loved ones.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
July 3, 2017
In a perfect world, it would have been sunny and calm at high camp the morning after our summit. Then we could have packed at our leisure and enjoyed morning coffee. Instead, it was a surprise storm with annoying gusts of cold air and the sun caught up in a ragged and ugly cloud cap. We packed and ate anyway and eventually got walking down the West Buttress at noon. The weather was actually worse at high camp than along our descent route. We had a smooth trip down the fixed ropes into an unexpected snowstorm in Genet Basin where we pitched our
14,000 ft camp again. We'll recover here for a night and give the storm a chance to quit before our journey to 8,000 ft tomorrow. The forecasts still suggest that the weather will improve... some day.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and team
July 2, 2017
This was THE day after all. There wasn't any question that we'd be able to make it work once we saw conditions on the South Peak at 6:30 this morning. Yes, it was plain that the storm was still with us, with much cloud in every direction out in Alaska, but it was all below us and the winds were light. We ate, geared up and got moving out of camp by 8:45. As anticipated, we went from a sunny camp to a shady "autobahn" (the long steep traverse to Denali Pass) but the climbing was just hard enough to keep us warm. At the pass, we caught a little wind -which we tended to walk in and out of all day- but it was never more than about 10 mph. We climbed the steep rolls to the "Zebra Rocks" and then the broad upper bowl of the Harper Glacier. We went past the Archdeacon's Tower and crossed the football field at 19,500 ft. Then it was up Pig Hill to the spectacular summit ridge. There wasn't much question that we'd make the final 30 min cruise along the spine to the tippy top.
It took us eight hours to get to the highest point in North America. And then we liked it so much we stayed an hour. Our descent was free of any complications -all had saved enough energy to make it down safe, with no slips or stumbles. We were back in camp by 9:30 PM and ate dinner in the late evening sunshine... amazed at what we'd accomplished together. Now it is after midnight and the sun is around the bend, so good night to all from 17,000 feet in Alaska from a lucky crew of climbers.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Go Zach! Can’t wait to hear more and share with Maddy and the rest of the crew here in Italy. All the best!!!!
Posted by: Erin on 8/3/2017 at 9:32 am
So excited to be part of your journey by following this blog! Wishing all of you the most amazing time on this epic adventure!
Posted by: Nedra on 8/3/2017 at 4:45 am
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