Entries By dave hahn
July 8, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
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
On The Map
July 7, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
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
July 6, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
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
On The Map
July 5, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
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
On The Map
July 4, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
July 4, 2015 1:11 am PST
This was the day. The weather was a whole lot better than the last few days, but it wasn't perfect. A little blustery. We needed to take advantage though to get out of 11,000' and up to
14,000' Camp. Even having had a handful of teams break trail on the route before we made our effort today, we still anticipated a tough haul with knee deep snow on such steep hills. Motorcycle took longer than normal, Squirrel took longer, the Polo Fields went on forever, Windy Corner was windy (and it took longer). It was all pretty tough going until we got around the corner and reached our cache location from the other day. Finally there was less new snow, less wind and a decent track to follow. It was still uphill though. It took us 8.5 hours to cover what should have taken 6 hours, but what a wonderful feeling to roll into 14 Camp after thinking of it so much when we were stuck down below. We've got different and magnificent views now, of Denali, but also of Mount Foraker and Mount Hunter and about a thousand other peaks when the clouds allow. We did a late dinner after camp was built and then hurried in to the tents for the night. It is colder up here, and colder still when the sun goes behind the mountain. Everybody deserves good rest after such a big day.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
July 3, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
The wind and snow conspired to make for a tough and noisy night in the tents last night. A few intrepid souls got out in the storm to dig away the encroaching drifts. Morning brought less wind, but the snow continued as the guides served breakfast in bed. It was slightly surreal to have the strong smell of forest fire smoke mixed in with heavily falling snow while camped so far from trees. Eventually the snow slowed and then stopped, but by that point, several feet of it had accumulated. The clouds stayed right in on us until about 8 in the evening. We were enjoying an open air dinner when the mist fell away, the sun came out and everything got beautiful. The team stayed out well into the evening, staring at Kahiltna Dome, Mount Foraker and
Denali's West Buttress. Our prospects for going up in the morning were improved as we watched several teams come down Motorcycle Hill, plowing a trail and cutting whatever tension the otherwise suspect snow-pack was under.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
On The Map
July 2, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, JM Gorum, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
July 2, 2015 12:36 am PST
This day didn't start out all that bad, but then it didn't waste too much time getting bad. It got snowing about an inch an hour by mid morning. That didn't stop some of our neighbors from picking up and moving to 14K anyway, but it stopped us. We didn't want to risk getting caught at
Windy Corner when the wind started. So it was a quiet day for us, sitting in our tents listening to the snow. Just about right in the middle of a nice dinner in our beloved POSH tent, a cannon shot of wind hit and ripped the shelter nearly in half. We sat for a few minutes more anyway, chowing down, looking out the big new vent and wondering who'd be first to abandon ship. Then it was a mass exodus back to the tents for what promised to be a windy, snowy, stormy night on Denali. We'll figure out a different plan for our cooking and dining shelter needs.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
June 30, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 30, 2015 5:46pm PST
Today's wake-up call was a quiet and windless fall of about six inches of light powder snow. It was our planned rest day, after five busy days getting on and up the approaches to
Denali, so there wasn't any early morning angst as to whether the snow would keep us from our goals for the day. Today, those goals included a breakfast of bagels and smoked salmon in the POSH tent and a session of digging out camp as the snow continued to fall. We eventually climbed back in the tents for naps and reading. A few teams came down the mountain today, resting near our camp as they prepared to march on toward the airstrip in the snowstorm. We'll hope to move uphill tomorrow and we'll be ready for that, but of course we'll pay attention to the weather and see what it allows.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide
Dave Hahn and Team
June 30, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Monday June 29th 10:20 pm PT
We had a short break from the cloud and snow this morning. When we got out of the tents, there were actually views to be had in most directions and blue skies above. Being at 11,000 ft, it was slightly colder than what we've experienced so far, but a hot breakfast took care of the chills and got us ready for our carry. We set out for "Motorcycle Hill" at 9:30. It was good to be in crampons and carrying ice axes after days of snowshoes and ski poles. An hour put us in the middle of "Squirrel Hill" with great views of
Denali's Northwest Buttress and the Peter's Glacier. It began to cloud up as we reached the "Polo Field" off the end of the giant granite towers of the West Buttress. By Windy Corner we were in light snow, but close to our destination. We dug a deep and raven-proof pit in the snow at 13,500 ft in which to cache the food and fuel we were carrying. It was an easy climb down with light packs and we walked out of the snow showers and into sunny and warm camp at 11K again by 4:30 PM. We'll hope for a comfortable night of sleep tonight as we've followed the "climb high, sleep low" rule of acclimatization to altitude. Tomorrow will be a rest day, as part of that same plan.
Kryz wishes his dad a happy birthday from
Mount McKinley.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
June 29, 2015
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Steve Gately, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Sunday June 28th 10:22 pm PT
Once again, the weather was a little sloppy in the early hours, so we didn't get out of the tents until the civilized hour of 7AM. It was still pretty well socked in at 9,500 ft as we ate breakfast, but things seemed workable for moving up. We were on the go by 10:00 and in our new camp at 11,000 ft by 1PM. The clouds cleared from time to time, giving us some great views of the end of the
West Buttress. Luckily, clouds hung in there enough to keep the sun off the final steeper hills into camp. We dug in and got settled in our new home. It is a relief, after building four camps in four days, to know that we'll get to stay in this one for a few days. The afternoon and evening were spent resting and sorting food and gear. If possible, we'll do a carry to 13,500 ft tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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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
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