On what could have been the final push for 2010, many climbers summited from the south including a record 12th summit for Dave Hahn who was guiding Leif Whittaker. The weather cooperated for the teams however it was extremely cold at 18 below zero F. Once on the summit, the winds started to pick up so climbers hustled down as quickly as possible. In addition to Hahn and Whittaker, climbing under the First Ascent/RMI banner, the rest of team made it to the top including Michael Brown topping out for his 5th time. They commented once back at Base Camp [continue reading]
May 252010
May 242010
update #3: South summits. First from RMI: Seth Waterfall is on the summit of Mount Everest. He has the summit all to himself. It is a bit chilly but he has plenty of oxygen and is feeling good! The rest of the team is at the Hilary step continuing up. Then Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker. Thus far another 12 summits. Their announcement: Dave, Leif, Seth, Casey, Michael, Scott, Tendi, Tshering Dorjee, Dawa Jamba, Da Gyldjen, Nima Tenji, Pasang Temba. On top of the world. All are doing well. Robert Hill and his team reached the South Summit and made [continue reading]
May 232010
update 7: Summits!! With late news, as expected, there are more summits Monday morning on the north. Adventure Dynamics reports 6 members and 7 Sherpas on top. 7 Summits Club put their second team up with 6 members plus an undetermined number of Sherpas, they do not list their Sherpas unfortunately. A foot of new snow was noted at the North Col making conditions difficult. update 6: Summits!! I would estimate we had at least 50 summits tonight on both sides making season total approaching 400. Still more on the north and a few on the south for tomorrow, Monday [continue reading]
May 192010
A huge wave of climbers on both sides of Everest have moved to their respective Advanced Base Camps. Many have declared a summit day of May 22nd but are monitoring the weather closely. This season is beginning to look identical to 2009 when bad weather basically shut Everest down around May 23rd and eventually delayed departures from base camps by almost week due to the heavy snow. Leaders who were there last year want to avoid a repeat, especially on summit night. Mountain Trip, led by Scott Woolums with climbers Cindy Abbott and Paul & Denise Fejtek are looking at [continue reading]
update 2: 50+ climbers to South Col on Sat May 15, few, if any, went for summit as winds picked up. Look for big Sun night, Nepal time with summits Mon morning assuming weather holds. Next big window now May 24(?). update: as we approach midnight Saturday at the South Col, some teams are delaying summit push to start Sunday night Nepal time since winds have kicked up a tad. After a week of consternation about the weather, so far it looks like the forecasts of a lull are right on schedule. Multiple teams are in position for Sunday and [continue reading]
May 082010
This was a busy week on Everest with the first summits for the 2010 season along with a risky gamble. And several accidents and, sadly, a reported death on nearby Lhotse. A team of nine Sherpas fixed the ropes to the summit on the south side. They included Sherpas from IMG, Alpine Ascents and Himex. One western guide who was doing route work high on the mountain also joined them to the summit. Over on the north, it is an entirely different story. According to teams, the ropes are currently fixed only to camp 3 or about 27,300′, far short of the summit and thus stopping most summit attempts. The weather has been difficult this year. As usual, the north receives more snow and wind than the south and increases the difficultly of climbing on that side. It appears no summits attempts until May 11th when the winds could begin to ease but more likely it will be a few days later than that.
Apr 292010
On one of my Everest climbs, I was told outright – “If you can’t get to camp 3 in under 5 hours, you are out.” After a discussion with my grim reaper on people skills, the logic of the statement made sense. Speed is your friend on any mountain, much less the highest in the world. The Lhotse Face is the eastern side of the world’s 4th highest mountain Lhotse, 8516m or 27,939 feet. Many climbers attempt Lhotse itself in pursuit of all 14 8000m mountains or as a difficult 8000 meter mountain. The route is identical to climbing to the South Col but takes a hard right, upwards, just above the Yellow Band to the technical and rocky summit. But the Lhotse Face is the gatekeeper to all of this.
Interview with Dave Hahn
Guide, Interviews
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Jan 022010
Dave Hahn has always stood out to me the consummate mountain guide. While some will certainly argue this point, I have witnessed Dave in action a few times. Once in the Khumbu Icefall, Dave was guiding a huge client. When I say huge, I mean 6′ 3″ 250+lbs – not fat just large, huge. The client was struggling with a big move in the Icefall and Dave was gently providing guidance in footwork. He could have easily taken on the impatient guide persona but Dave showed his patience. The climber made it. On another expedition, I was sitting in our [continue reading]
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