Mt. McKinley Expedition: Champion & Team Establish Camp at 14,000’
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 14,000'
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Monday, June 9, 2025 - 10:21 pm PT
Today was a long day. Around midnight the snow finally stopped and the skies begun to clear. This morning we woke up to lingering clouds, but a few hints of sunshine and finally, a day without snow. After a quick breakfast and hot drinks, we began to shovel out our camp, that had taken a real beating over the last few days of really heavy snowfall. Once we shoveled our camp, we began to pack up the gear we needed for 14,000' Camp, and gather the gear we were going to leave at 11,000' Camp until we came back through. This included snowshoes, one trekking pole, and for everyone besides the guides - the dreaded sleds. We also left behind trash, and food we realized a week in we might not eat in the remaining two weeks. Once our cache was buried and left, we strapped on our crampons and began the slow trek up Motorcycle Hill. It was no easy feat, the trail breaking was close to waist deep in places. We continued our way up Squirrel Hill, across the Polo Fields, and around Windy Corner - which was less windy than a few days ago. And finally made it to the promised land, 14,000' Camp. Greeted by friends and sunshine, it was nice to finally make it to our launching point for the rest of the mountain. We quickly built camp, and eventually enjoyed a late dinner of ramen. The team did great, everyone pushed themselves, and showed up.
Tomorrow we will sleep in and take a well deserved rest day at our new camp.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
Comments (1)
Thank you so much for the blog updates!! As Stephen’s sister Anna put it this morning-
“The RMI blog posts are like new chapters in an adventure novel dropping each day.”
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