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Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
RMI Guide Jason Thompson checks in from the Kahiltna Glacier
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 11,000'
Thursday, June 5, 2025 - 10:31 pm PT
Another successful day! We slept in a little bit, and had a filling breakfast of smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels and then rigged our empty sleds and duffles to make our way downhill to our cache. After about 30 minutes of walking downhill in light snowfall, we made it upon our cache site. We made quick work of digging up all of our group and personal food, restocked our sleds and packs and turned around to make our way back uphill. After about two hours of hard work, we made our way back into camp. The rest of the afternoon was spent swapping anchors, and prepping to carry to 13,500' tomorrow. The day was wrapped up with another crowd favorite, burritos and beats by Hannah. Hoping for good weather for our long carry day tomorrow!
RMI Guide Nikki Champion
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 27, 2025
Wishing Nikki a very Happy Birthday on the 7th and a very successful climb!!
Posted by: MAUREEN ANDREWS on 6/6/2025 at 1:35 pm
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 9,000'
The team arrived in Mendoza with all of their gear. The first hurdle of any expedition is the logistical hoops one must jump through in order to pack and prepare. It can feel like quite a challenge to ‘feel ready’ when you step on to the gravel at the trailhead, but the team has it dialed in and we’re truly ready for the expedition ahead of us. Uspallatta, a small town a little ways outside the mountain, was our humble abode last night. We took the time to enjoy the creature comforts of the hotel after packing our bags for the journey ahead. Laying in grass, reading our respective books, and taking naps is how we spent our time after the work was done. The night wasn’t complete until the team and other hotel guests were singing and dancing in a Congo line with live music to boot. Expedition life can be so tough sometimes. Today we leave the comforts of hotels and head out on the trail for our first mountain day. We will do one more pack in the town of Penitentes and prepare our gear for the rigorous journey up the Vacas Valley to Plaza Argentina. Wish for tailwinds, scattered clouds for shade, and cool temps for the trek into Basecamp!
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli, Jack Delaney and Jess Wedel
Posted by: Mike Walter, Taylor Bickford, Nikki Champion
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
On The Map
Mylan,
Thank you for the updates, glad to see you’re alive. Can’t wait to hear all about your trip, stay safe. Love you
Posted by: Courtney Urban on 6/24/2019 at 8:29 am
Go CK! You are an inspiration! Stay strong and be safe! Sending you good vibes! Can’t wait to hear all about it, so make sure you come back in one piece!
Posted by: Dove on 6/24/2019 at 6:33 am
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Adam Knoff, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Shishapangma
Elevation: 22,650'
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Robert and Lisa Hohn
Posted by: Robert Hohn on 10/1/2016 at 8:36 am
Thoughts and prayers are with you all. Wishing you a safe return home to your family and friends…...and sending blessings to the lost sherpa and his loved ones.
Posted by: Sandy Bradbury on 10/1/2016 at 7:40 am
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
As your next climb approaches, it’s a great idea to revisit your training plan with a critical eye and make a plan for how you are going to tune-up for the big event. Within four to six weeks of your climb, assess what is going well in your training and what could use a boost. This might mean entering a race or checking back in on a set of benchmarks that you’ve been using. It’s difficult to make an effective difference in your endurance base at this point—there simply isn’t time. Cramming in all of the hours that you wish you had done earlier is more likely to lead to injury or showing up to the climb already fatigued. Have confidence that you’ve done the job of setting yourself up with a good base and look to these other areas of your fitness for the final tune-up:
Core strength: Your core is comprised of all of the muscles that surround your spine, the side muscles, pelvic muscles, the glutes, as well as (but not just!) the abs. These muscles provide the link in the kinetic chain between your upper and lower body, and thus, nearly any movement you make ripples through the core. In climbing, a strong core helps to link the movements that we make rest stepping uphill with the stabilization of the upper body, including a heavy pack. Add an extra workout or two per week of core strength—focusing on the whole core not just the abs—in the weeks leading up to your climb. The extra strength that you build will help you to climb more efficiently, for longer!
Anaerobic threshold: Your final weeks of training should include some tune-up interval workouts. Try to find a mix of slightly longer level 4 interval workouts to increase your anaerobic threshold, and shorter, speed oriented workouts to tune-up your fast-twitch muscles. Emphasizing some harder intervals and speeds during your final weeks can give you a greater ability to recover from hard efforts during your climb and give you a few more gears should you need them.
Flexibility: A focus on strength training often comes at the expense of flexibility. As the muscles are broken down by training and recover again to build strength, they tend to tighten. If you haven’t dedicated much time to stretching and flexibility, use this opportunity to build it. Building flexibility will help your muscles work more efficiently during the climb and can help to prevent injuries or discomfort that may arise from the effort.
In your final tune-up don’t leave out your long workouts completely, but you can reduce your training volume or hours, and in doing so free up some workout time to focus on these areas. Though mountaineering is an endurance sport, strength, flexibility, and your capacity for high output activity are all important and the effect of your training can be greater in these areas over this last period of preparation. Pick out the elements that could use a tune-up, and take this opportunity to maximize your gains and head into your climb feeling ready and prepared.
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Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
Hi McKin!
Ivie, Hunter, Ray and I are cheering you on!!! We love you.
Posted by: Julie on 5/17/2011 at 12:38 pm
Hey Jitendar,
Hope the storm has passed and wasnt too bad.Post some pictures.Cant wait to see you guys dominating the mountain!!
Love,Mamta.
Posted by: Mamta on 5/16/2011 at 7:12 pm
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