Entries By nikki champion
June 2, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 6:08 pm PT
First full rest day in the books! We spent the morning sleeping in, and having a leisurely breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon. The rest of the day was filled with napping, reading, and recovering.
Tomorrow, we plan to make the move to 14,000’ camp. So we've got to tidy up, and cache any trash, extra gear, and dirty socks we don't want to bring higher up the mountain.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team
June 1, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 7:26 pm PT
Today was a tough, but successful day. We woke up before the sun, and had a quick breakfast of granola. After our speedy breakfast, we began loading up our backpacks with the group and personal loads to cache somewhere above Windy Corner. After about an hour packing, and organizing we were roped up and heading up Motorcycle Hill. This was our first day in crampons, and without the sleds. We worked our way up Motorcycle Hill, and Squirrel Hill in the shade finally hitting the sun by the time we made it across the Polo Field. As we made our way up, the team was moving well and the temperatures stayed manageable so we were able to make it all the way to 14,000' Camp to cache all our group and personal gear and food we don't need for the next few days. We took a long deserved break, gave the descending RMI team a hug, and headed back downhill. After a long day, we rolled back into our 11,000' Camp. The stoves are going, and we will soon enjoy a meal of ramen before heading to bed.
Ramen, sounds good in the cold.
Posted by: Tom Chandler on 6/1/2022 at 10:02 pm
Sure do miss your face. Any chance they can send some face shots. Texting while icing at PT. I could get all the ice I want on Denali! All is well back at 500 Ft. Love you.
Posted by: Emigh Litch on 6/1/2022 at 3:23 pm
May 30, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Monday, May 30, 2022 - 2:40 pm PT
Happy Memorial Day. After a few early mornings, we finally got to "sleep in". Waking up as the sun hit our tents, we were all drinking coffee and making breakfast burritos by 8:30 am. With clear skies above, and the cloud deck sitting right below 11 Camp we loaded up our empty packs and sleds to head downhill into the cloud to grab our cache. After a few short minutes downhill, we filled our packs and sleds back up with the gear and food we had left. The short uphill went by quickly compared to the last few days, and it felt good to shake out the legs before spending the rest of the day resting.
Tomorrow we begin this whole process again, with hopes to cache somewhere above Windy Corner. Until then we will be resting, napping and snacking at camp.
RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team
Can you post the itinerary of the proposed climb? Love to envision where you all are, on the glacier. Be safe.
Posted by: Emigh Litch on 5/31/2022 at 1:06 pm
May 29, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 3:45 pm PT
We woke up to yet another splitter morning. We enjoyable clear skies, and cool temperatures while eating our oatmeal around 4 AM. After enjoying the quick breakfast, and some hot drinks we made quick work of breaking down camp, and caching anything we didn't need to bring uphill. By 6 AM the teams were all roped up, and we had begun our trip up Ski Hill. With the sun not finally making an appearance until about 9500', the snow surface remained firm and supportable, which made for another day of fast, efficient movement. In no time, we were rolling into our new home at 11,000' Camp.
Hope you are having great time. It is supposed to be 85-90 degrees here for Memorial Day.
Stay safe!!
Posted by: Tom Chandler on 5/30/2022 at 7:31 am
May 28, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,600'
We woke up to nearly perfect weather. Cool temperatures, clear skies and close to no breeze.
After a quick breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, we loaded up our packs and sleds with group meals, personal food, and some technical gear we wouldn't need over the next few days and embarked on our first carry. Yesterday was a long hard slog, but luckily the only time we move all our food and gear uphill, from here on our we will be carrying food and gear uphill, caching it, climbing past it to our next camp, and then doing a back carry to go get it. So that's exactly what we did today. We carried our gear from the base of ski hill, up towards our next camp and cached it near 10,000'.
Tomorrow we will hopefully move to 11 camp and go get the cache the following day. For now, we are all back at camp, resting in the shade, eating snacks, and prepping for our move tomorrow!
RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team
One safe step at a time, Rob. You are impressive. What a breathtaking experience. Keep at it!
Sending you sisterly love, and support to you and your team!
Lynn.
Posted by: Lynn on 5/29/2022 at 8:24 pm
Rob go Rob Go. My the force be with you. Cheering you on in spirit from Gina Rae.
Posted by: Gina Rae Hendrickson on 5/29/2022 at 3:06 pm
May 28, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 7,600'
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
Wow—impressive operation! Glad you have good weather and it sounds like you’re right into it. Pulling for you Rob, so keep pushing the protein!
Posted by: Marilee Utter on 5/28/2022 at 10:13 pm
Good to see you are on your way and on schedule. Hope the Weather Gods will be kind in the days ahead
Posted by: Bob Edge on 5/28/2022 at 9:27 am
May 20, 2022
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Nikki Champion
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
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.
August 30, 2021
Posted by: Mike King, Nikki Champion, David Price, Leif Bergstrom, Emma Lyddan, Connor Mullady
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
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.
Beautiful picture! Hope to go there in a few weeks and praying for good weather.
Posted by: Joseph Huang on 8/31/2021 at 10:09 pm
Proud of you team! Great effort!
Posted by: Rachel Zimmerman on 8/30/2021 at 7:49 am
August 7, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Nikki Champion
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
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!
Howard and howie so amazing and your awesome. Get back down safely
Posted by: Favorite sister and Jim on 8/7/2021 at 10:32 am
Congratulations to all the climbers!
Posted by: Katie on 8/7/2021 at 9:57 am
August 1, 2021
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Camille Leininger, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 8,900'
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.
Jessie is a champion climber.
Posted by: Batman on 8/1/2021 at 12:38 pm
So glad to hear you all and your special cargo are making your way up that spectacular mountain. Eat well, rest well and climb safely.
For the sports fans of the group, Celtics came back to beat the Warriors in game 1 last night; Nadal made it to the semis of the French Open, and the Avs are up 2-0 over the Oilers.
Posted by: T, B, H and G on 6/3/2022 at 5:36 am
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