Entries By dave hahn
The stretch of fine weather held just long enough for us to pack up high camp and drop on down the fixed ropes. By mid-day as we neared low camp, we could see cloud caps forming on the mountain tops. We repacked for sled-hauling and set out for basecamp. Travel conditions were smooth and easy and our biggest concern became preventing sunburn. We made it into base at 5:30 PM and joined several other teams hoping to fly to Union Glacier. The ski-equipped twin otters have apparently been quite busy these last few days, but their intention was to make several trips to Vinson tonight. The first flight made it in about 45 minutes ago and it is now 11:40 PM We would be on the third flight if they choose to go on through the night. So perhaps around 4 AM we'll get a shot... But in the meantime, our tents are up and it is time for a nap.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 16,067'
_Vinson_(Zoom)_1.png)
Hey, this is Dave Hahn, and I'm on the summit of Vinson with a wonderful team. I'm with Billy Nugent, Seth Waterfall, and eight very strong climbers. We had a wonderful day. We got up on top at 4:45 in the afternoon. We headed out of camp this morning at 9:30, it all went really well and we lucked out on the weather. We've got blue sky and sunshine. On the top right now with gloves off and it's just a beautiful day. We're all feeling extremely lucky. We will give a call again from our high camp, when we get back there. I don't expect to have too many troubles getting back there as everybody's climbing really well. Everybody seems quite happy here on the highest point in Antarctica, 16,067 feet. There we are. Very good.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave Hahn from the Vinson Summit
Congratulations Everyone! Sounds awesome!
Posted by: cheryl on 11/27/2011 at 12:02 pm
Great job Billy and team. We’re so proud of your accomplishments.
Posted by: Jan Minorini on 11/27/2011 at 8:09 am
Another excellent day on ice. We enjoyed an absolutely calm and beautiful day today as we broke camp down low and moved up high. We got moving by 2:15 PM (as usual it was bitterly cold before the sun came around at 11:30 AM) and moved well and efficiently up the steep fixed ropes. Our training from the carry two days ago and our rest from yesterday seemed to be paying dividends as it took just six hours to reach high camp. The tents were pitched and dinner got cooked. Naturally we talked over our plans and hopes for tomorrow. It could be our shot at the top, but of course everybody must have a good night first, and we need continued luck with the weather.
Best regards from 13,000 ft,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
everest top of the world guides
Posted by: ali abrahim on 12/1/2011 at 8:37 am
We rolled out of the tents at 11:30 AM to find another perfect day. Calm, sunny and clear, just the way we like things. This was our well-earned rest day and we took full advantage. A leisurely breakfast primed the team for a mid-day nap, which was followed by the mid-afternoon nap and the early evening nap. The goal of it all was to prepare for a few tough days to come up high on the mountain. Everybody did their best to catch up on hydration and calories. Billy Nugent and Seth Waterfall rested by spinning on down to basecamp and returning with fuel and other supplies in a tight five hour round trip. Thanksgiving dinner was held under our festive blue and white POSH tent. Chicken and noodles with all the trimmings. We'll be even more thankful if this fine weather continues.
Best regards to all back at home.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
Weather forecasts that were passed in to us from Union Glacier suggested that things wouldn't be so great today. But then the forecasts changed. It was a fine and calm day with plenty of sun and blue sky. We packed up our basecamp and at about 12:30 PM, we began marching up the Branscomb. The going was slightly easier today as the track in the snow is getting packed down a bit better. We collected our cached food and gear from yesterday and then made the big northward turn with the glacier. This put us directly under Vinson's great western escarpment and it was a thrill to look up at 2000 vertical meters of rock and precariously perched ice. A few hours of easier going on a firm surface brought us to Vinson's low camp at a little before 7 PM. It was very comfortable in the sunshine but the slightest breeze or a small cloud putting us in shadow made everyone acutely aware of what the actual temperature was. The forecast that called for good weather today pegged the summit temp at -36 degrees. We got tents up and the kitchen going and had dinner sitting outside, surrounded by giant and jagged mountains. After dinner a few of us got a quarry of snow blocks going and built some walls for the camp... Just in case the weather changes, as usual. It is now around 30 minutes after midnight and the sun is blazing away on the tents. The sun won't set, but around 3 AM when it goes behind the mountain, we will know it. At this camp, we won't expect to see or feel it again until noon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Happy Thanksgiving to all! We are hoping you have great weather. Keep warm.
Regards,
F/W Group in St Louis
Posted by: F/W Group on 11/23/2011 at 10:38 am
I just turned up the thermostat another 5 degrees after reading this post.
Mark - hope you’re carrying your little stuffed moo-cow with you. I find it galling that its been to more summits than me.
Posted by: Madhu Rao on 11/23/2011 at 7:43 am
We've got an entire day on Mt Vinson under our belts now. By the time we turned in last night it seemed we'd been awake for days... Mostly because we had been -with the midnight to four a.m. Ilyushin 76 flight onto the Antarctic continent and then a day of waiting at Union Glacier basecamp. Our Twin Otter pilots came through nicely though and the entire team was on the Branscomb Glacier at 7,000' by early evening. Vinson Basecamp (VBC), but not until we built it. We all felt pretty lucky to have gotten in since visibility and contrast weren't great. It was calm at Vinson Basecamp though, which was nice. And cold, which was expected. We stayed in our warm sleeping bags until 9 a.m. and then wandered out to stare at our surroundings and to eat breakfast. It took several hours to sort ourselves out and to switch gears from hopping continents to hopping crevasses but finally we stretched our ropes and our legs and got busy doing a carry of food and fuel partway to Camp One. The weather wasn't spectacular and we wanted to be careful not to overdue things on this first day, so we covered about two and a half miles before caching the gear and returning to VBC. Weather was slightly nicer by then in basecamp and so having dinner in the strong, warm 9 PM sunshine was a treat. We have big plans for tomorrow. We'd love to move up the mountain but it will depend on how everybody is feeling and what we see for weather.
In the tent now, at 12:45 AM with bright sunshine and a cool breeze blowing down glacier.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Happy Thanksgiving! Good look on summit day. David you are missed, thinking of you.
Posted by: Birgitta Schindler on 11/24/2011 at 10:35 am
PRAYING TODAY BRINGS GREAT CLIMBING WEATHER! BE SAFE!!
Posted by: TOM WENDEL on 11/22/2011 at 9:26 am
This is Dave Hahn with the RMI Vinson Expedition, V1, we are starting the Vinson season. Myself, Seth Waterfall, Billy Nugent along with our climbers have had a run of good luck now. We flew from Punta Arenas last night. At quarter to midnight we left the ground after a day of stop and go, hoping for a flight and being stopped short earlier in the day. And then finally, late last night we departed Punta Arenas and arrived in Union Glacier around 5 am. Things were great there, it was nice and calm and our good luck continued. During the day the staff at ALE managed to get us all out to Vinson Basecamp and that is where we are sitting right now, on the Branscomb Glacier below Mt. Vinson. We are at about 7,000', it's partly cloudy and again calm.
We are excited, after a few days in Torres del Paine, which was not that bad of a delay being in a National Park in Southern Chile, to come on the very next day and already be on the mountain. Everything is looking good now.
More when we can,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from Vinson Basecamp.
CH
Good luck and have fun.
Bruce
Posted by: Bruce2 on 11/21/2011 at 10:10 am
Hey Cheryl! We’re rooting for you here in Beaver Creek and will be thinking of you Wednesday, opening day!! See you soon! xo, lin
Posted by: Lin Bercher on 11/21/2011 at 9:29 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Hello once again from Punta Arenas, in the far South of Chile.
The team made its way back from Torres Del Paine this morning on a blustery day. Storm clouds were swirling across the towers as our driver piloted his van out of the park and back toward our Antarctic adventure. The word was that ALE -our logistics company, had managed to get two preliminary flights accomplished, clearing the way for our own flight to go forward. We were sorry to leave Torres Del Paine since we'd all glimpsed a the possibilities for endless hiking and climbing, but we were excited to get back to working on our primary goal, Mt. Vinson.
We did see a number of Condors and Guanacos during our drive out of the park and a lot of wind whipped lakes and lagoons. Back in Punta, we reconnected with some of the other passengers-to-be for our flight to the ice and we compared notes on a couple of great days in Patagonia. In the late afternoon, we tried to get our equipment squared away for a weigh-in tomorrow morning and the subsequent loading of the airplane.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Fine days are known to be rare in Torres Del Paine National Park. We enjoyed one today, start to finish. It was an agreed upon "free day" in which our team members were advised to use the time as they wished. Most team members went hiking since the weather was so beautiful and since we´d done so much travel by airplane and automobile in the last week. The hike of the day was around 10 kilometers, one way, gaining over 700 meters in altitude. This brought many of the team to a viewpoint looking straight onto the Torres -giant granite towers, looming over a picturesque alpine glacier and lake. The path led through wonderful forests and ultimately up through big jumbles of rock. Plenty of Andean Condors could be seen circling on thermals, waiting for hikers to stumble. The gang will meet up in the Hotel Torres bar and restaurant this evening to compare notes on the day and to begin to refocus on Antarctica. We´ll use tomorrow to return to Punta Arenas and will resume gearing up for the Ice.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall and Billy Nugent leave the US for Punta Arenas, Chile, in a few days! Once in Punta Arenas, the team will meet for their orientation and final preparation before flying to the Union Glacier in Antarctica!
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great success cheryl holman :):):) toy
Posted by: wayne on 11/15/2011 at 5:23 pm
Be safe! Enjoy!!!
I will miss you MAW!!
Diane
Posted by: Diane Barnett on 11/14/2011 at 1:39 pm
Hello, this is hrishi from Hong Kong. Hearty Congratulations to you all for the successful expedition!
Posted by: Hrishikesh Kulkarni on 11/27/2011 at 9:34 pm
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