Entries By nikki champion
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Mac Nolde, Celeste Wilson, Annie Chapman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Mac Nolde, Celeste Wilson and Annie Chapman led the Four Day Women's Climb July 28 - 31 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Reports are clear skies, light breeze and overall beautiful day. The climbers reached the summit early this morning and after spending a bit of time at the summit, started their descent from the crater rim around 7 am. Once back at Camp Muir the teams will pack their gear and continue the last 4.5 miles down to Paradise. They will end the day with a celebration of their adventure.
Nice work team!
Posted by: Casey Grom, Nikki Champion
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb Teams led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Nikki Champion successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! They started their descent from the crater rim a little after 7:00 am, they will enjoy some breakfast during their short break at Camp Muir before descending to Paradise and arriving back at BaseCamp this afternoon.
They reported some slight winds but, overall, a beautiful morning to be on top of the mountain!
Congratulations on an incredible achievement climbers!
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
At 7:15 AM this morning, the Four Day Climb led by Nikki Champion and Mike Haugen reached Columbia Crest, the highest point on Mount Rainier!
With clear skies and warm temperatures, the team crossed the crater in perfect conditions—an unforgettable moment on one of the most iconic peaks in the Pacific Northwest.
Huge congratulations to the climbers and guides for this incredible achievement!
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 348'
Wednesday, June 17, 2025 - 10:20 am PT
Well, like all good things, this too must come to an end. Sorry we’ve been a bit MIA since summit day—those final days all start to blur together. You don’t get much downtime until you're either sitting at the airstrip waiting out the weather or lucky enough to fly straight to Talkeetna.
Three days ago, on June 14th, we stood on top. The following morning, June 15th, the team packed up camp and began the long, challenging descent. We dropped down the West Buttress around noon, descended the fixed lines, and stopped at 14,000' Camp for a brief six-hour nap.
After our rest, we had a quick dinner at midnight, then loaded up all of our gear from the last two weeks and began the march back to basecamp. We made our way around Windy Corner, down Squirrel and Motorcycle Hill, and finally back to 11,000' Camp. There, we whispered hellos to Dom’s team—who were sound asleep—grabbed our cache, transitioned back to snowshoes, and continued past Camp One to basecamp.
By around 9 a.m. on the morning of June 16th, we arrived at basecamp to good weather and the chance to fly straight off the glacier. By noon, we were back in Talkeetna wearing flip-flops, and by 2 p.m., we were sharing beers and laughter, wrapping up our expedition at the Brew Pub.
It’s all been a bit of a haze—amazing, exhausting, unforgettable. In the moment, it felt like it moved slowly, but now that we’re back on dry land, it’s hard to believe how fast it all went by.
If you've been following me for years, you know I'm a fan of Hiakus...
Fresh socks, frozen boots
Glacier sunburn, summit views
Fly me to a beer
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 20,310'
June 14th
The teams made it to the top! We've got a lot to say, but for now it's a late night and we are trying to eat dinner and get some sleep. Everyone pushed hard, and it was a beautiful summit day! About 11-12 hours round trip, primarily filled with sunshine.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Job well done Mila and team! Glad to see everyone made it safe and sound. Welcome back to “civilization”. Can’t wait to hear all about your adventure and experience.
Kim
Posted by: Kim on 6/17/2025 at 11:57 am
Congratulations all, you did it - what an accomplishment!!! Jarmila, I agree with Tanya’s message - we can’t wait to hear about about the expedition, see all of your photos and celebrate with you upon your safe return back to the bay! WOW!
Posted by: Sarah on 6/16/2025 at 4:34 pm
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
Friday June 13, 2025 10:04pm PDT
One step closer to the summit.
This morning we woke up under surprisingly warm temperatures (for Denali) and started the stoves. After a quick dinner and packing of the essential overnight gear we began our journey out of 14,000’ camp, up towards the fixed lines and onto the west buttress proper. After the steep technical climbing of the fixed lines, we transitioned to the picturesque but Exposed ridgeline that makes up the name of this classic route. Comprised of steep drop offs, and beautiful exposed granite we weaved Our way from 16,200’, to our final destination for the night 17,200’ camp.
Still blessed by sunshine and warm temperatures (again, for Denali). We quickly built our new camp, started water, and settled into our home for the night. Tomorrow is still looking good for our summit Push, and everyone is feeling all the emotions - but primarily excitement.
Our goal is to start climbing at 10am tomorrow before We roll into our long summit day. Hopefully check in tomorrow with the best news!
RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Mila and team wishing you good weather and sending lots of energy for the final push ! Enjoy and be safe!
Posted by: Eva McDevitt on 6/14/2025 at 9:32 pm
Mila and the team, wishing you the best weather for the final push!
Enjoy the summit views and have a safe journey back!
Posted by: Sarka on 6/14/2025 at 8:51 pm
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Thursday June, 12, 2025 9:21pm PDT
Our final rest day in the books. We let the sun warm our tents before we finally crawled out to share a meal of hashbrowns and eggs. After a relaxed and slow morning, we then spent the day basking in the sun like lizards, seeing what other climbers were offering up, and getting our gear ready for the summit push - which would be starting tomorrow.
We are all very excited and looking forward to moving to 17,000’ camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Stephen and team,
I just heard you made it to the summit. Amazing! I’m so excited for you. Way to go pushing yourself through this challenge. I hope to hear about this adventure someday.
Posted by: Tammy Nemetz on 6/15/2025 at 4:43 am
OMG!! You are almost there and our adventure novel will come to an end! We can’t wait to read the final chapter!! We are cheering you on and we are in absolute awe of your strength, courage and tenacity!! Stay safe and warm!
<3
Stephen’s Fam
Posted by: Deb Kendall on 6/13/2025 at 9:56 am
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 14,000'
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - 10:22 pm PT
Today brought the perfection we've been waiting on since our journey began. Blue skies, sunshine, warmth. We walked up the fixed lines with the sun on our backs. The most technical climbing we have seen to date, we secured ourselves to the fixed lines with our ascenders and made our way to the ridge where we placed our final cache. We made it back to camp around 5pm, greeted with more sunshine, and re-hydrated before dinner. Mac'n'Cheeze was in the menu for the evening accompanied by chatter of a potential summit window. We look forward to a day of rest tomorrow, and are hopeful to move to 17,000' Camp Friday.
Fingers crossed!
Thanks for tuning in.
xoxo RMI Guides Hannah, Nikki, & Leif
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
We’re praying for you all. Get to that summit and then get Dork back home. We love you, Brandon!
Posted by: Erica Stietenroth on 6/12/2025 at 11:03 pm
Finally, good weather when you need it most.
Climb Strong. Stay Sharp. Summit Safe!
Posted by: Larry Lytle on 6/12/2025 at 1:46 pm
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 14,000'
After our big day yesterday, today was some well deserved R & R. We slept in a bit and had a slow morning of bagels and bacon. We then headed to the edge of camp to dig up our cache. After a few hours of rest we then took some time to review fixed rope skills to prepare us for tomorrow, to carry up the fixed lines up above 16,000'.
We then enjoyed some dinner of potato soup and chicken sausage and called it a night.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Tell Brandon we are sending good vibes, a lot of positive energy and a lot of Prayers! Remember, You’re not just climbing the highest mountain in North America, but you’re proving how strong you truly are!
Climb High and Stay Strong!
You Got This! Can’t wait to drink a beer with you as soon as you’re back. JT
Posted by: John Tamburo on 6/12/2025 at 7:30 am
Tell Brandon the megel bros and burn we hope you’ll doing great keep pushing almost there! Remember if it doesn’t challenge you it won’t change you!
Posted by: Derek goral on 6/11/2025 at 5:55 pm
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
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Ps, whoever is with Brandon, make sure his pee bottle is closed tightly. I speak from experience on this one.
Posted by: Constantine Velentzas on 6/12/2025 at 9:53 am
Sounds delightful! Looks like a few days of low wind, high pressure for you with minimal snow in the forecast. Wear your layers and drink your soup boys and girls!
Posted by: Constantine Velentzas on 6/12/2025 at 9:50 am
Congratulations to this Amazing Team of Women! I’m with you in spirit! Safe journey to Basecamp!
Posted by: Kim Hansen on 7/31/2025 at 9:21 am
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