Dave Hahn

CONGRATULATIONS TO Dave on his 13th summit of Mt. Everest! There is no non-sherpa climber with more summits!!!

Birthday: Nov 3, 1961
Hometown: Taos, New Mexico
Climbing Focus: expeditions, high altitude guiding, Antarctic travel

Dave Hahn is one of the worlds most experienced and respected big mountain guides. During the course of a 25-year career he has amassed 13 ascents of Everest, 20 of Denali, 27 of Mt. Vinson and 270-plus climbs of Rainier. When not guiding or "sitting on the couch eating chips and salsa" Dave ski patrols at Taos, New Mexico in the winter, and writes humorous adventure essays that have been widely published. Hahn's guiding services are in high demand due to his strength, experience, laid-back nature and good teaching skills.

Hahn has also earned major respect for rescues on Everest, Rainier and Denali. In 2001 the National Park Service recognized him as the Denali Pro Mountaineer of the Year for assisting several teams with frostbite and exhaustion problems. In 2002 he received the American Alpine Club's David A. Sowles Award for an epic 2001 rescue of four climbers high on Everest's Northeast Ridge. In 2008 he was honored by the Nepal Mountaineering Association for rescuing a climber in 2007, above 27,000 ft on the Southeast Ridge. That same year Hahn also received the US Department of the Interior "Citizen's Award for Bravery" for a hazardous 2002 rescue on Mt. Rainier's Liberty Ridge. (Chopper Gumbo, Hahn's original story of the Rainier rescue, can be found at classic.mountainzone.com.)

Hahn first got serious about climbing in the mid 1980's, when his mountaineering father told Dave he could go along on an upcoming Denali climb - if he first climbed Rainier and boned up on his glacier skills. Dave soon signed up for RMI's week-long expedition seminar led by guides George Dunn, Ed Viesturs and Greg Wilson. (Hahn's tale of the Rainier seminar "The Day I Met the Boss," can be found at classic.mountainzone.com.) Their summit attempt ended with a storm and crevasse rescue, but Dave joined his dad in Alaska, and found his life's calling as well. "When I saw the Rainier guides in action I suddenly knew what I wanted to do in life," he says. RMI was already done hiring that season, so he waited tables at Paradise Inn, near the trailhead for Camp Muir Rainier routes, and got on staff the next summer, in 1986. He has been a working guide ever since.

Hahn is notably modest about the impressive resume he's built up, in part due to the climbers he guides. "I have to totally live in this world to be good at climbing mountains," he explains. "But some of my clients are CEOs and brain surgeons. They only climb a week or two a year, yet they're very capable athletes and mountaineers. I have no similar ability to be good in such varied, far apart endeavors. It's very humbling."

Nowadays Hahn's calendar follows a predictable circular migration. "Taos is my home," he explains. "But five big mountains - Rainier, Denali, Vinson, Everest and Taos Ski Valley - are where I live." Despite all the globe-trotting, Hahn regularly returns to Rainier. "When I first saw that mountain as a 23-year-old I couldn't stop looking at it, and I still can't," he says. A quarter century of living on high peaks has made Hahn a top-level expert on climbing the world's most challenging summits, and knowing what gear to trust.

DAVE'S TOP GEAR PICKS

First Ascent Men's Peak XV Down Jacket
My Peak XV is the perfect loft and weight for the big mountains I work on. It moves with me and doesn't get in my way while protecting me from serious cold, yet it pack down neat and small when things get more civilized.

First Ascent Men's Cloud Layer 1/4 Zip Top
This one is soft as a cloud and luxurious-looking at the base of any hill, but it's also a serious and essential piece in my climbing and skiing systems.

First Ascent Men's Rainier Storm Shell Pant

First Ascent Men's Igniter Pant

Thermarest ProLite Plus
There was a time when I thought that such a basic thing as the Thermarest mattress could not be improved upon. So I've been continually surprised at how worthwhile it has been to upgrade my Thermarest every few years. The current model is light-years better than the old pads. The inlet valve is far superior, the mattress is lighter, packs smaller, is more comfortable and more pleasant to the touch than mattresses from just a few years back. I normally choose a full-length ProLite Plus Thermarest and pair it up with a shortened Z-Rest for expeditions on snow. For a Denali trip I'll often bring along a light-weight Crazy Creek chair to fold out flat to compliment the short Z-Rest, and I'll inflate the ProLite Plus over that.