Entries By nick sinapius

5/24 - Today's haiku brought to you by Candice.

Signs of clearing skies

Brings us hope as days count down

May the weather hold.

While we are geared up to move to 14 camp, we sadly woke to another day of poor visibility and light snowfall. We used the down day to prepare camp to move tomorrow, but most of the day was filled with time in the chaos cantina. The favorite Mexican joint around 11 Camp. Where we enjoyed breakfast burritos in the morning, and beef and bean burritos for dinner. We wrapped the evening up to the sweet melody of Gasolina (let's go Daddy Yankee), and some friendly tortilla wars with our neighboring camps. Let's hope for tomorrow.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

Hello friends and family! This is Karen (in the yellow jacket from the latest picture) and I’ll be taking over the daily dispatch from Nikki tonight (Hi Mom and Dad!!).

We woke up to silence which usually means no/little wind. I strained my ears to hear what I call the “meeting of the minds” aka Nikki, Rosie, and Nick deciding what the plan is for the day. At around 8:30am we got the call “hots and breakfast in 10min.” IT WAS A MOVE DAY, WOOHOO!

After a nice oats and blueberry breakfast we started to pack our bags and decide what food we wanted to cache just below 14k camp. Nikki came around and asked everyone if they wanted to add the most important piece of gear, GLITTER! At around 10:45 am our bags were packed, our faces full of glitter, and we were off like a heard of racing turtles.

We climbed Motorcycle hill then Squirrel hill, then crossed the Polo Fields before a break to put our helmets on before rounding Windy Corner. To my disappointment, I didn’t see a single motorcycle, squirrel, or person riding a horse, but it’s ok because there was also a lack of wind at Windy Corner. When the sun peaked through the clouds, the views were breathtaking up there.

After 4 hours of hiking, we arrived at our cache site around 13.5k ft. After our cache, we were off, back down to camp at 11k. We took some time to chill before a dinner of creamy potato soup with chicken sausage. If weather allows, we will head to 14k camp tomorrow!

With that, I leave you with tonight’s Haiku:

Move day, move day, yay!

Rope teams so strong as we go.

Champion leads all!

Karen, RMI Guide Nikki Champion, and Team  

Tonight’s haiku brought to you by Jaylynn:

Snow wind clouds and more

Forever stuck at camp 2 

Please let us leave soon

This morning we woke up more optimistic, there was no snow falling from the sky, and the tents were quieter than past mornings As the stoves were rolling, we paid attention to the winds up high. It was obvious that snow was moving, so we waited to see how things continued. Would the winds die down, or continue? As we ate our oatmeal the winds only continued, we continued to wait and watch. By noon, the winds still hadn't backed off, and our call for the day became obvious. Yet another weather day at 11 camp.

We settled into our tents for the afternoon, played some more card games and took some naps until our big evening of pizza!

Tomorrow we shall try again to carry!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

Thursday May 21, 2026 - 9:44pm PDT

Welp, we woke up to drifting snow, heavy winds, and the sun outlook of yet another weather day. Today haiku was brought to you by Adam, because it was his favorite day ever.

Wizards of the stove

Waving wands of ice and snow

What will you do next

Adam’s favorite day ever consisted of his two favorite meals. The day started with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the day wrapped up with Zatarain’s (Jambalaya). The in-between times were filled with cribbage, rotating in your sleeping bag like a hot dog in a gas station and some more story times. The snow continued to fall throughout the day.  We are still set up to carry to 13.5 whenever weather allows.

Check in tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 9:28 pm PT

Tonight’s dispatch starts with a Haiku from Oliver:

Trango home on snow 

Vented, sturdy and solid 

Palace of solace

Today we woke up to a low cloud, light snow and calm winds. It was our chance to go back and grab our cache. As we let the morning slow roll, we enjoyed the the second smoked salmon meal of the trip and then geared up with empty packs and sleds and started back downhill to be reunited with our snacks and group meals we have been missing. After a quick 30 minutes of down we were digging. 

We then loaded everything up, and headed back up hill for a short hour. As we finally made it back into camp, weather mellowed out and we enjoyed a solid afternoon of building a kitchen, good burritos, and snapping a quick team photo. 

Weather might be a bit tough tomorrow, but when things allow we will gear up to carry to 13,500'

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Well, the walls we built last night turned out to be the right call. Throughout the night, the winds ramped up and snowfall continued. By the time the morning rolled around, our fate was obvious. It was going to be a weather day. With the strong winds and constant snowfall, we all snoozed our alarms and settled into our sleeping bags for a few more hours before a slow morning of scrambled eggs, ham, and English muffins. The day didn't improve much, and being outside was less than desirable, so every one settled into their homes for the day, and moved through a steady rotation of sleep, sport eating, and the occasional tv show. During any lulls, or when we all got a bit stir crazy some shoveling would partake, but most hours were spent in the tent. 

We are going to wrap the night up with some Thai curry and rice noodles before heading to bed with the hope to back carry tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Monday, May 18, 2026 - 11:48 pm PT

The first alarm went off at 5AM. The sound of snow falling on the tent was there, but lighter than the last few days. We spent the next hour paying attention to the weather to see how the winds and snow progressed, and they seemed to stay the same. By 7AM the stoves were rolling and the plan was to move uphill if weather didn't get much worse. The light snowfall and dense clouds lingered, but winds remained calm at camp. By 10:30 we had torn down camp and began our way up Ski Hill in the light snow and clouds. As we made our way through the first few stretches the sun would occasionally try to peak out, but sooner rather than later the clouds rolled in, snowfall picked up, and visibility was reduced to a whiteout. This continued all the way past our cache before the skies broke again. After a tough day, we finally rolled into 11 camp where we found our RMI cohorts, and set up camp right below them. The long day was wrapped up with some ramen, and a little bit of wall building to prep for the next incoming storm. 

We are hunkered down and now set to face the storm, or back carry, whatever weather brings.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

5/17 - Another morning greated by the soft pitter patter of snow on the tents, as we unzipped the vestibule we were met by moderate snowfall, and low visibility. The waiting game begun. Wait to see if visibility increases, if winds decrease and if the snowfall stop after a few hours, none of those things happened and we settled into another weather day. A morning of breakfast scramble, followed by hours of tent time, some shoveling and some naps. The night was wrapped up with "burgers" and weather. Here's too tomorrow?!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

5/16 - We woke up to the light sound of snow on our tents, and a thick cloud bank. As we emerged, we couldn't see either end of camp. As the snow continued to fall, and winds blew, we slow rolled our morning waiting to see what the weather would bring. After a morning of paying attention to weather, and some logistical problem solving, we opted for a weather day. 

The morning consisted of bagels, cream cheese, bagels and storytelling of infamous first dates. The afternoon was filled with sport eating, resting and building walls around camp to prepare for any incoming weather. We finished off our day with a dinner of pad Thai, listening to the weather, and mountain wide trivia. If weather allows we will move to 11 camp tomorrow.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team
 

5/15 - What a splitter morning! We woke up to clear skies, and the entire mountain on display. We had spent the evening before going through our gear. So we were set up to have a quick breakfast, pack up everything we plan to cache, and begin our way up Ski Hill for the first time of the trip.

With much lighter packs and sleds, the climb in the clear weather flowed by and in no time we were pulling into our cache site, right around 10,100'. We took a break, shoveled a deep hole, and dumped about 1/2 of our food and fuel in the hole to see at a later date.

We then turned around with empty packs and sleds and made it back to camp 1 for a night of beautiful views, and mac and cheese with bacon. When weather allows we will pack up, and make our way up past our cache all the way to 11 camp.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team