Entries By nikki champion

May 27, 2022 10:40pm PST

Hello everyone! 

After a day of organizing gear in Talkeetna, we successfully flew onto the Kahiltna Glacier ready to start our much-anticipated Denali Expedition!  

The last few days have been full of expedition preparation. We spent the day napping and prepping to move to the night schedule for these first few days but after hearing the weather, and talking to a few other guides on the mountains, we decided to avoid what would have been a cold windy walk in the dark and started climbing around 8 am this morning. Surface conditions made for fast moving, and the wind kept us cool. We rolled into the base of ski hill just a little after 1 pm Before taking off the boots, we unloaded group gear, and made camp.

The remainder of the evening will comprise of eating some well-deserved burrito meals, deciding what gear to cache, and getting some rest before we carry some of our gear up to 9600'.

RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan and Team

May 26, 2022 6:48pm PST

May 24th Denali climb checking in with our first dispatch!

After spending all day organizing, pack and repacking in Talkeetna yesterday, we woke up to perfect weather and were able to jump on the first flight around 9AM this morning. We unloaded the planes, set up camp for the first time and took a quick nap before doing a midday brunch and reviewing skills. With the warm temperatures, we will be on the night schedule for the first couple days - so we've all crawled back into our bags. and plan to wake up in the night and make our first move to the base of ski hill. Glad to be on the mountain!

Check in tomorrow.

RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan and Team

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Nikki Champion spent the week at Camp Muir honing their alpine mountaineering skills. While the spring storms kept the team from making their summit attempt, they had a valuable week of training the will prepare the climbers for future expeditions on Aconcagua and Denali. 

During the week the team learned route planning and preparation, avalanche forecasting, instruction regarding Leave No Trace practices and environmental considerations; and a discussion/demonstration of knots, anchors leading into crevasse rescue.

The team will be descending today returning to Rainier Basecamp early this afternoon.

RMI Guide Mike King called this morning at 7:06 a.m.  The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team turned at Ingraham Flats due to difficult route conditions.  The teams are planning to begin their descent from Camp Muir between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Nikki Champion climbed into a cloud cap with rain and wind, this forced the team turned at 13,200' on Mt. Rainier. Despite turning before the summit due to weather, the sunrise at the top of the cleaver was very rewarding!

The team is back at Camp Muir and will be descending soon. 

Congratulations Team!

The Women's Mt. Baker Climb, led by RMI Guide Nikki Champion, aborted their climb at 8,900' this morning due to rain and high winds.  The team is currently on their descent back to camp where they will break camp and head to the trailhead.

The Mt. Baker Easton Glacier crew for July 26 - 29 reached the summit this morning led by RMI Guides Nikki Champion and Alan Davis.  The team gathered at the trail head on Monday and spent the last few days on the mountain learning glacier travel skills.  Today they put their training to work and were rewarded with 100% of the team reaching the top.  They will spend tonight back at camp and walk out to the trail head tomorrow, concluding their program.

Nice work team!

The Four Day Climb July 20 - 23 reached the 14,410' summit of Mt. Rainier led by RMI Guides Christina Dale and Nikki Champion.  Blue skies but chilly temps and winds around 20 mph accompanied them on their climb.  After enjoying the views from the summit of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and the Cascade range, the teams began their descent from the crater rim around 6:45 am.  Once they reach Camp Muir they will repack and continue their descent to Paradise (5,400').

Nice work climbers and congratulations!

Wednesday, July 7, 2021 - 3:24 pm PT

The winds are calm and it's snowing lightly at Denali 14K Camp. Our plan is to pack up camp this afternoon and journey down into the thicker clouds, hopefully making it to Basecamp sometime in the middle of the night. We're not overly optimistic that we'll be able to fly tomorrow...the pilots at K2 Aviation tell us that this weather is supposed to stick around until Saturday. If all goes well we'll at least be in position to fly off the glacier if a clearing presents itself.

We'll let you know how it goes.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 1:00 pm PT

There's not much new to report today. We're still at 14,000' Camp, waiting for an opportunity to head downhill to the airstrip. Unfortunately we're also still in a snow globe. Apparently it's totally socked in all the way to Talkeetna, with rain in town, so all of the planes are grounded a well. We've got plenty of food and fuel, and we're warm and dry in our camp. The forecast is grim, but we're not desperate, and we'll patiently await a change in the weather.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Monday, July 5, 2021 - 1:05 pm PT

We're still hanging at 14,000' Camp, amid snow, wind, and very limited visibility. We're hoping for a little break in the weather so that we can pack up camp and head down around Windy Corner and start our descent. The weather isn't having any of that, though. At this point we're comfy and safe at camp and there's no reason to force a descent into terrible weather. As eager as we are to get to Kahiltna Base Camp, it is not a pressing matter because planes cannot fly (much less land on the glacier) in this weather.

We'll keep you posted on our predicament.

RMI Guide Mike Walter