Entries By nikki champion

May 17, 2024 11:22PM PT

First mountain day in the books. After a pretty grim weather forecast, we had planned to sleep in a bit and have a later breakfast. To our surprise, K2 Aviation called us at 7:30 AM to tell us the weather looked great and to make our way over to the hangar.

By 9 AM, we had changed into our mountain boots and loaded into the plane. After a beautiful flight, we landed at basecamp - unloaded, organized, and rigged up the sleds, buried a basecamp cache for our return, and made our way out onto the lower Kahiltna.

It was a long heavy day - the one day of the trip we carry everything we brought.

Under blue skies, we rolled onto the base of the Ski Hill, built camp, and settled in.

We had a dinner of mac and cheese with bacon and got gear ready to cache tomorrow.

Hoping for another beautiful day, but just glad to be moving.

Check in tomorrow!

RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom and Team

Welcome to the first dispatch for the May 14th Denali Climb!

After a busy few days, getting to Talkeetna, and spending all day yesterday packing and preparing for the upcoming expedition, we went to bed hoping to fly the following morning.

We woke up early, called K2, and made our way to the hangar by 8 AM, dressed and ready to fly. Spirits were high, and we were optimistic. We loaded the planes and changed into our climbing gear. Unfortunately, the weather closed in on the mountain, and we entered a waiting period.

That waiting period extended into the afternoon and evening. We filled our day with a late morning coffee, walks to the river, a sanity run by Leif and me, and yet another dinner in town.

We will wake up again tomorrow and hope to fly. Until then, we enjoy the warm food and hot showers.

Cheers,

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

The Four Day Climb August 3 - 6 was unable to make a summit attempt due to continued rain throughout the night. RMI Guide Nikki Champion reported that rain began at Camp Muir around 10 pm and continued throughout the night. Light rain continued to fall this morning. The teams are planning to leave Camp Muir around 9:30 am heading downhill to Paradise.

We expect them to return to Rainier BaseCamp in the early afternoon.

The Four Day Climb July 30 - 2 August reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. RMI Guide Nikki Champion led the team reported cold and windy conditions with a good route.  The team spent some time in the crater before starting their descent to Camp Muir.  Once back at Camp they will take a short break before continuing the remaining 4,500' to Paradise.

Nice work today team!

The Mt. Rainier Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Nikki Champion stood on top of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams reported clear skies and light winds on the summit. They are currently on their descent to Camp Muir, where they will pack-up and refuel. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon.

Way to go, climbers!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide Dan May watched the sunrise from Ingraham Flats today. Due to route conditions the team was unable to safely climb higher. They are on the descent from Camp Muir to Paradise.

The Five Day Climb July 13 - 17 led by RMI Guides Nikki Champion and Jess Wedel chose today as their summit day.  The teams reached the crater rim this morning with clear skies but windy conditions.  The teams will return to Camp Muir for a well deserved rest and enjoy another night on the mountain. They will descend tomorrow to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

Here's one more haiku,

The otters finally flew

We have made it back.

After a few long days sitting and waiting in our tents at Basecamp, K2 Aviation was able to make their way up glacier to come and grab our teams and sneak us back to Talkeetna last night.

We unpacked all the group gear, took our first shower in a long time, and got to enjoy a hot meal not prepared by an RMI guide.

After a long and challenging trip, we were all very thankful to make it back to land safe and sound.

Until next year!

Nikki

June 3, 2023 10:48 am PDT

We woke up to snow,

Was hoping to be in town,

More freeze dried it is.

June 2, 2023 10:01 pm PDT

The planes come and go,

but we are still here waiting,

tomorrow we fly?

RMI Guides Nikki, Leif, Lauren & Team

June 2, 2023, 11:39 am PDT

Yesterday we woke up to clear skies, but the clouds and snow quickly made their way in. A few planes snuck in, but we were unable to make our way back to Talkeetna. So we sit, and continue to wait for our weather window to get off the Kahiltna Glacier and return to Talkeetna, beds, and showers. Until then we keep eating our snacks and watching movies.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion and team