Entries By nick sinapius

July 22, 2026 11:00 am, From the Emmons Emmons team:

We submitted the emmons yesterday in and eventually above the first wildfire smoke of the Washington summer. After resting in the afternoon we scrambled up steamboat prow to take in the views and then called it an early night. We'll leave Sherman early this morning to head back to ashford in search of showers and ice cream.  

RMI Guide Nick Sinapius

July 21, 2026 9:00am

The ESS–Emmons team, led by Nick Sinipius, also reached the summit via the Emmons Glacier and reported clear, calm conditions on the mountain, with smoke moving in and out around 12,500 feet. The team will spend one more night at Camp Schurman before descending to the trailhead near White River Campground tomorrow.

Congratultions Team! 

The Four Day climb led by RMI guides Nikki Champion and Joe Crawford attempted to summit this morning. Shortly after leaving Camp Muir, they experienced lightening which led to them turning around. The lightning continued until 4am. They reported a dark cloud deck below, and a cloud cap above. They enjoyed a sunrise hike to Muir Peak instead. They will descend to Paradise this morning and be back in Ashford this afternoon. 

Nice work up there!

RMI Guide Nick Sinapius led his team to the summit of Mt. Baker via the North Ridge early this afternoon. After a successful summit day, the team will spend one more night on the mountain to rest and recuperate before descending to the trailhead tomorrow morning, where they will conclude their trip.

Due to a snowstorm, the RMI Guide Jackson Breen and  Team turned around at 8,500 feet yesterday during their summit attempt. The team is descending to the trailhead today.

The four-day climb stayed at Camp Muir today and were unable to climb due to heavy snow and wind. Gusts were nearly 60 miles per hour overnight. 

Way to stay strong up there team!

The five-day clmib decided to climb their first night at Camp Muir, with much success! The team, led by RMI guide Nick Sinapius, reached the summit around 7am this morning. They are on their descent back to Camp Muir. They have one more night at Camp Muir and will descend back to Ashford tomorrow. 

Great job everyone!

RMI teams led by guides Henry Coppolillo and Nick Sinapius attempted to summit Mt Rainier this morning, but turned around at 11,500', just above Ingraham Flats due to deteriorating route conditions.They returned to Camp Muir and are on their descent back to Paradise. They will be back in Ashford this afternoon. 

Monday, June 1st - 9PM PST

Well, we did it. We packed up camp at 14 yesterday morning, and began the trek back down the mountain around noon. We rolled through our old camps, and luckily got to see a few friends along the way. We picked up trash, old CMCs, and a few hugs here and there. We continued through the lower Kahiltna - in a white out, fitting for this trip. 

Eventually, around 10PM we pulled our heavy sleds up heart break hill and into base camp again. We enjoyed a midnight dinner, and settled into our tents for (hopefully) the last time. 

The following morning we checked in with K2 and hoped to fly. We got lucky, and by 11A the planes were on the ground and we crawled in. 

The team is back in Talkeetna and enjoying vegetables and beer for the first time in a while.
 

-RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Saturday, May 30th 10PM PST

Today was our final decision day, the final day of no dehydrated meals, the final look at weather before making a decision to head up to 17 camp, or make our way back to the airstrip. The morning started off calm and beautiful, and after a breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns the whole team walked out the edge of the world where we got expansive views of everything below and out for miles. Throughout the afternoon we got more weather information, and the clouds began to build in camp. 

The window we were looking for was moving up Sunday, trying to summit Monday, and heading back downhill Tuesday. The more we checked the weather, and the more we heard it appeared as the low pressure pushed out, and the high pressure moved in, high winds were moving in with it. Both the winds and the temperatures (still in the -30 range…brrr) sadly took the Monday summit window off the table. 

After much consideration, we are going to have to start making our way back down the mountain and towards the airstrip. 

We will check in tomorrow as we begin our descent. These decisions are never easy, and the team put so much effort in. We are proud of everything done up until this point.

8/29 - A well deserved rest day! Again, sleeping in and waking with the sun - we enjoyed our final bagel, cream cheese and smoked salmon meal of the trip. Nick was running the stoves, and taking orders, and the morning was leisurely around camp. We spent the day pondering weather, and making a game plan for the coming days. We ate snacks, played some games, and continued to put off walking to the edge of the world. The day wrapped up with Mac and Cheese and some team rounds of heads up. We are continuing to look for a 3 day weather window to move up hill, summit, and return to 14 camp. Let's see what the weather brings!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team