Entries By dave hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn, JJ Justman, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 4,383'
We had climbers circling the thunderclouds, climbers flying back and forth to Delhi, planes delayed back on the Great Plains... But ultimately, we had the entire RMI Mount Everest 2015 climbing team assembled on time and with all gear at the Yak and Yeti Hotel in Katmandu. Six climbers, two base camp trekkers, two guides, one base camp manager and one Sherpa Sirdar enjoyed a fine dinner together- without so much as one person falling asleep at the table. Quite a feat considering all the time zones and datelines crossed. We didn't discuss intricacies of Everest climbing just yet. Rather we caught up on each other's jobs, families, pets and hobbies. Finally, we sang Happy Birthday to Peter Rogers and devoured the cake commemorating the occasion.
Tomorrow is for packing and prepping and perhaps a few naps.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Our last day in Antarctica was pleasantly routine. The team strolled into the dining tent at Union Glacier Basecamp to enjoy breakfast and the news that the Ilyushin 76 would be "on deck" by mid-afternoon. We packed our gear and collapsed the tents one more time, then passed the time playing chess and chatting with other climbers. Sure enough, the big plane touched down at 2:45 PM. We were on board and lifting off by 5 PM. Landing in Punta Arenas was smooth and easy 4.5 hours later. We had to work quickly to get checked in, showered and out to dinner before closing, but all of that was quite enjoyable "work". The trip ended with an excellent midnight dinner in Patagonia.
Thank You for following along.
Until next climb,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Now we feel lucky. It was another perfect day at Vinson. We were out of the tents at high camp by 8 AM and out of camp itself by 10. There wasn't even a hint of wind to distract us from the hard work of descending the fixed ropes with heavy packs. We made it down to low camp, took off the crampons and repacked for hauling sleds. Snow conditions were ideal for walking and there were rumors of aircraft anxiously anticipating our basecamp arrival and so we didn't waste too much time in transit. Arriving at VBC at 3:20, we had to then hurry in yet another gear sorting extravaganza to be ready for flight. The Twin Otter came in, we loaded up and took off into the cloudless sky. Exiting the plane at Union Glacier then seemed like a walk in the park compared to life back in the big mountains. True, it is still a snowy park, and we had to put up tents one more time, but we also got to sit at tables and eat excellent "real" food that we didn't need to start stoves or melt snow to produce. Life is easier at Union. Before the evening was out, all the teams had caught their own flights and the dining tent filled up with happy and successful climbers and adventurers. We are all right on schedule for tomorrow's Ilyushin flight... Should the weather allow it. At the moment, most are figuring it will happen, but most are still pretty excited to be in Antarctica.
Best Regards ,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
On your way home!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas to all.
Posted by: Betty Sullivan on 12/18/2014 at 7:25 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
We are feeling quite lucky today. It was extremely good weather for going to the top of Mount Vinson. And there was no mystery about it. From the time we got out of the tents at high camp this morning, it was obvious that conditions were stable and that we'd be able to simply concentrate on climbing well. The team did exactly that. We left camp at 9:35 and were on the top at 3:45 PM. In fact, we passed most of the teams that had left before us, although that certainly wasn't our goal. We just wanted to move efficiently in this cold environment. On a day when about 30 climbers were going for the top, it was also quite nice for us to have the summit to ourselves for a time. Gary and Bob had the added significance to the occasion in that Vinson was the seventh continental summit for each. We could see up and down nearly the full length of the 200-mile Ellsworth chain, but our eyes were drawn continually to the sharp and lofty summits just north of Vinson, to Shinn, Tyree, Gardner and Epperly. We left the top at 4:20 and arrived back at high camp by 7 PM. Dinner was a comfortable session in our POSH tent and then we headed to bed early. Tomorrow will be another big day as we descend to Basecamp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations to the whole team! Amazing work; may you be blessed with beautiful weather! Home soon!!!!!!!!! Lots of love, Mom
Posted by: Betty Sullivan on 12/17/2014 at 7:22 am
Hey - yes you did it!!!!
Congratulations to everybody!
Wish you a save way back under the antarctic sun!
See you soon, Hans!
Ute ;-)
Posted by: Ute Novak on 12/17/2014 at 7:11 am
Hey this is Dave Hahn calling from the summit of Mount Vinson, 16,067 feet above sea level, highest point in Antarctica. Our whole team is here! We got here at 3:45 local time and we're still here at about about 10 minutes after 4:00. It is just beautiful, windless, sunny, clouds, but just a few of them. So we're feeling very lucky. Beautiful day up here. We'll be in touch from High Camp.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Congratulations to Gary Johnson & Bob Sullivan who have now reached the summit of each of the highest mountains on all seven continents. An impressive accomplishment! And congratulations to Dave Hahn on his 35th summit of the Vinson Massif.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from the Vinson Massif summit.
On The Map
PS: You coming home safe and continuing to be the coolest Dad ever is the best present I could ever have.
Posted by: Seah on 12/16/2014 at 6:16 pm
Yeah! Congratulations Pod! Stay warm on the way down and don’t forget my meteorite and penguin feather!
Loveyou, Seah and Josh
Posted by: Seah + Josh on 12/16/2014 at 6:11 pm
A great day for climbing, at last. We were out of the tents just after the sun broke the big freeze at Low Camp. Conditions looked much better today, so we ate breakfast, tore down the tents and hit the trail. Actually, we broke the trail, which wasn't too big a deal. The fixed ropes were under about two or three inches of hard wind blown snow. It was a long time on a steep angle but most of the way, the surface was perfect for our crampons. We worried that the wind might come up as we topped the ridge, but we cleared that area fast and escaped the big chill. Five and a half hours of hard work brought us in to beautiful "High Camp" at 7 PM. It was perfectly calm and sunny at 12,150 ft and we set to work building a comfortable and secure camp. We like this one to be secure since we are right on the edge of a dramatic and profound drop-off. One doesn't have to go but 75 feet to be staring straight down the 3000 ft to low camp. Looking out to the west is a shining sea of ice and low cloud stretching seemingly forever.
We ate dinner and prepped our packs for tomorrow. It just might be our summit day.
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn
Good luck daddy! This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Stay safe!
Love,
Tilly
Posted by: Mattie Sullivan on 12/16/2014 at 8:12 am
Hey - this must be a beautiful view: 3000 ft into the deep!! I hope weather will stay good and you´ll have an unforgetable summit-day!!!
Wish you all the best and take good care of yourselves.
And of course a special wish to Hans!!!
Ute
Posted by: Ute Novak on 12/16/2014 at 5:55 am
Despite our being very much ready to break camp and head higher, the upper mountain wasn't ready for us. When the sun finally hit at 11 AM, it was coming through streamers of wind blown snow driven from the ridge crest that -coincidentally- was to be our goal for the day. We ate breakfast and eyeballed the clouds and winds, neither of which got better as we watched. The forecast had called for light winds and light cloud cover. We had to admit, that in every other location visible to us, that prediction seemed accurate... Except the one place we wanted to go. We watched as gust after gust drove snow straight down the length of the fixed ropes. In other parts of the world, we might have attempted to fight such a wind, but in this ultra cold environment, it wouldn't have been a fair fight. By mid-afternoon there was no letup and so a rest day was declared. Five teams camped around us did exactly the same thing. Two small teams already at high camp hunkered down and reported steady 25 knot winds with higher gusts. For being a bad-weather day, it was sunny and calm where we sat, slept, read, played cards, ate and drank. Tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Following the blog daily. Stay safe and see you soon! Love, Judy
Posted by: Judy Johnson on 12/15/2014 at 10:36 am
Today was an easy one for our Vinson climbing team. We'd planned a rest day to help with our acclimatization and so, after tearing out of bed at the crack of 11:15 AM, we had a long, slow breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and hot drinks. We went for a short walk in the mid-afternoon to the base of the fixed ropes and climbed a couple of pitches to reacquaint ourselves with steep snow protocols and methods. Then it was back to Low Camp to rest up and sort gear. Weather wasn't perfect today -there were high clouds being blown from the summits of the high peaks, but it was nice and calm where we were. We'll see what we get tomorrow and perhaps we can move to High Camp.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
It was great to be in Vinson Base last night... Quiet and peaceful (once the airplanes quit bringing climbers in, that is, sometime after 2 AM). We got going this morning at the usual VBC civilized hour of 9 AM. There was plenty to do in getting sorted, getting breakfast and getting some meeting time in with the other climbing guides and the ALE staff. Eventually we got tents down, packs loaded, and our ropes tied for glacier travel. We were first out of camp at 1:43 PM. Conditions were excellent and we made great time, arriving at the 9,000 ft "Low" Camp at 6:30, having traveled 5.6 miles. Sunburn was of more concern to us than frostbite today. The views of Vinson's giant and jagged northern neighbors- Shinn, Epperly and Gardner, were stupendous. Our camp went up quick and easy. Dinner went down without any hiccups and we were in bed by 11 PM. All were warned that the brilliant sunshine would warm the tents only until 3 AM. Then, although the sun won't set, it will go behind our mountain for about eight hours and life will be cold in the shadows. We'll reemerge from the tents at 11 AM to see what sort of day we have.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Yay daddy! Stay safe and keep climbing! I’m completely done with my final exams and came home yesterday. Miss you so much!
Love,
Tilly
Posted by: Mattie Sullivan on 12/13/2014 at 11:17 am
Yay! I figured you were on your way as well. Thanks for the updates Dave! Give Gary a hug for me :-)
Posted by: Kate Prusack on 12/13/2014 at 7:11 am
December 11, 2014 - 8:01 pm PT
A good chunk of this day was spent like the last three days... waiting and wondering when we'd get to fly. But two thirds of the way through dinner, everything changed. The weather at Vinson got good and we got up from the table and out to take down our tents.
We'd spent the morning enjoying a fat-tire bike ride around the 10 kilometer course. During afternoon, the wind got up at Union Glacier and we stayed inside the big dining tent, playing games, reading and talking. Most had given up hope for getting to Vinson on this day by the time we got the call. We loaded into the ski equipped Twin Otter and took off in a hurry. Then we enjoyed the magical scenery as we flew up the middle of the Ellsworth Mountains. Nothing but ice and rock -in a million different configurations- as far as the eye could see. The mountains got enormous as we approached Vinson and the pilot dove down toward the Branscomb Glacier to set us, ever so smoothly, at Vinson Basecamp. We hopped out into strong sunshine and calm air... Such a relief after the winds at Union today. Up went our tents and we crawled in after staring slack-jawed at the unreal and gigantic ice cliffs and rock escarpments around us.
Tomorrow, if all goes well, we just might go mountain climbing.
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hi everybody!
Now you did the first step to the summit and the others will follow - I`m sure!!!
Thank you for your daily report, Dave!
I´m looking forward to hear more from this special place “on the bottom of the earth”!
Take good care of you, Hans - and all together!
Best wishes to you! Ute
Posted by: Ute Novak on 12/12/2014 at 12:13 pm
Peter! Great to see you and Bonny…Mike and I look forward to following your adventures and continue to be inspired. Safe travels.
Posted by: Ferrall Dietrich on 3/27/2015 at 6:58 pm
Peter, Bonny & Team!
Congratulations on beginning your adventure! Know that everyone at Frontpoint will be following along every step of the way and wishing you all the very best! What an exciting trip for everyone and know that we’ll be cheering you on from around the world!
All the best,
Chris, Aaron, and the Frontpoint Team
Posted by: Chris on 3/26/2015 at 6:06 pm
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