Entries By nikki champion

Thursday, June 24, 2021 - 12:48 pm PT

It's been windy and snowy today at the 11,200' Denali Camp, although we caught glimpses of blue sky above us occasionally this morning. We're all cozied up in our tents after a big breakfast. We're content to rest and relax, enjoying some reading and some napping. We're at a great altitude for acclimatization, so we're (hopefully) getting stronger for our next mission, which will be to move up to Genet Basin at 14,200'. That will happen on the next good weather day, perhaps tomorrow but more likely Saturday or Sunday. We'll keep you apprised of our status. But for now we're happy, hydrated, and comfortable in our current camp.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 - 5:55 pm PT

The alpenglow was serene early this morning as we fired up the stoves to make hot water for breakfast. We got off to an early start and loaded up our packs with food and fuel to cache up high. Armed with crampons and ice axes we ventured onto the upper mountain. We climbed Motorcycle Hill and then Squirrel Hill in the shade, encountering a chilly breeze on the latter. Next came the Polo Field and then we finally hit the sun at Windy Corner. Our team made good progress and the weather was perfect, so we continued higher to Genet Basin to make our cache. We were afforded beautiful views of the upper mountain, as well as Mounts Hunter & Foraker and the rest of the Alaska Range to our south, and the expansive tundra to our north.

We buried our supplies in the snow and then descended back to camp, arriving before 3pm with enough time for a siesta before dinner.

We're sitting pretty now, with a cache up high. We'll take a rest day tomorrow, which coincides well with an approaching storm. Once that storm passes we plan to move camp up to 14k on the next good weather day. In the meantime we're tasked with resting, eating, reading, and some well earned sloth time. We acclimate very well at this altitude (11,200'), and we're very satisfied with our progress. We'll check in again tomorrow in between the chapters of our books.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 - 4:45 pm PT

We "slept in" to a normal hour today; being up at 11,200' we no longer have to be on an alpine start schedule, traveling at night when the glaciers are frozen. The sky was clear above us as I fired the stoves at 6am, and clouds filled the glacial valleys below. After coffee and a Pop Tart, we headed back downhill to retrieve the cache of supplies we buried a couple of days ago. A quick jaunt downhill and forty minutes of climbing back up hill, and we were back at camp with all of ours supplies. We enjoyed a big leisurely brunch of eggs, hash browns, bacon, and, of course, more coffee. Meanwhile the clouds that had been below us earlier had risen up to our level and it began to lightly snow. That was fine by us, as the rest of the day we lounged in our tents, resting, napping, and reading.

If the weather cooperates, we plan to put in a cache up above Windy Corner tomorrow, somewhere above ~13,600'.

We'll be in touch tomorrow and let you you know how it goes.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Monday, June 21, 2021 - 6:11 pm PT

We made the move to 11 camp!

After waking up to some light snow and rain in the middle of the night, we thought we might get stuck at the base of Ski Hill for another day. Hoping for the best, we went back to sleep for an extra hour and woke to the clouds dropping and clear skies above us. We blasted the stoves, had a quick breakfast of cold cereal and coffee, tore down camp, and began our first stretch of the day. By the time we moved, weather was close to perfect and the snow made for easy walking without snow shoes. Making our way up Ski Hill, past our cache from yesterday, we pulled into 11,000' Camp a bit before noon. With warm temps, and sunny skies, we set up our camp for the next few days and crawled into our tents and out of the sun.

Thanks to our hard work yesterday - belated happy Father's Day to all the dads out there - tomorrow should be an easy day, with a quick back carry in the morning before some well deserved rest in the afternoon. We will let you know how it goes!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Saturday, June 19, 2021 - 2:30 pm PT

We woke at 1am this morning and fired up stoves for a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee and then we set off down Heartbreak Hill to the Kahiltna Glacier and up the the base of Ski Hill. By traveling in the wee hours of the morning we were able to take advantage of firm snow conditions and comfortable temperatures for climbing, before the glacier turned into a solar oven.

The traveling was pretty straight forward, climbing over some crevasses and skirting around others. We made quick work of the mission, and four hours after setting out we found ourselves making camp.

After "brunch" we retreated to our tents for some rest and to get out of the searing sun.

We'll stay on the alpine start schedule for now and hope to carry a load of food and fuel up to somewhere close to 10,000' tomorrow before returning back down to our current camp. We'll let you know how it goes.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Friday, June 18, 2021 - 8:43 am PT

Good morning from Kahiltna Base Camp. We were packed and ready to fly all day yesterday, but the weather wouldn't cooperate with our plans. After playing the waiting game for most of the day, we finally loaded up the two turbine Otters and launched towards the Alaska Range. We arrived at Basecamp at around 6pm and set up shop here. We'll spend the day here today and move to the Base of Ski Hill tonight when the snow freezes back up.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Summit!  Today's Mt. Rainier teams, led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Nikki Champion, reached the top this morning.  After spending some time on the summit, they began their descent at 9:00 a.m.

Congratulations to the teams!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Robby Young and Joe Hoch were turned around at Ingraham Flats due to high winds and blowing snow.  The team returned to Camp Muir and enjoyed a brief break in the weather. The team left Camp Muir around 9:30 am en route to Paradise.  We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir May 16 - 21, 2021 met on Sunday for their first day of training led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith and Nikki Champion.  On Monday, May 17th they loaded their packs and ascended to Camp Muir.  They have spent the last four days and nights at Camp Muir, training and practicing skills needed to climb big mountains.  Today they put that training to test and made their summit attempt on Mt. Rainier.  Unfortunately wind and new snow thwarted their effort.  The team is safely back at Camp Muir and will do some additional training this morning before packing their gear and descending from 10,000'.  We hope they learned a lot and enjoyed their experience even with the uncooperative weather.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by RMI Guides Brent Okita, Hannah Smith and Avery Parrinello reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  Brent reported a beautiful day with windy conditions and challenges.  The group has spent the last several days training at Camp Muir.  Tonight will be their final night at the 10,000' camp and they will descend to Paradise tomorrow.  We hope the team enjoyed their time on the mountain.  Congratulations on reaching the summit!