9-12 January - Climbing Mount Kenya

I was at home for just one night before being picked up by Veronica (a former VSO volunteer who is now working in Nairobi), Mark (Veronica’s husband and also working in Nairobi) and Veronica’s sister Anstice (who was visiting from the UK).Veronica had organised a trip to climb Mount Kenya and I tagged along. A massive thanks to Veronica for sorting out what turned out to be an amazing trip.

We travelled up to Nanyuki where we met Mohamud. A lovely chap who many volunteers have used for their travel needs (long distance taxi’s Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Safari’s, etc). He gives a great service and highly competitive prices – well recommended, the reasons why can be seen from the story of our trip below.

We set off from Nanyuki in a private Matatu with our bags, 4 porters and Mohamud. We soon arrived at Sirimon Gate (2,650M) and the entrance to the Mount Kenya National Park. We unloaded our bags took photos at the gate and then had a long trek of 20 metres to the other side of the gate where lunch awaited us. “Exhausted” after 30 paces into our climb J we were greeted by tablecloth, cutlery, napkins, fruit juice and a fine cooked meal. The two cooks had arrived earlier and prepared a feast to give us energy for the trek ahead. We certainly would not fail for a lack of good food!!

The first part of the climb was through the forest. Although there were traces of elephants (AKA large poo!), buffalo (footprints) and the sound of monkeys, sadly we did not see any. We did, however, encounter “Charlie” the chameleon who was crossing the road as we passed so we helped him across. Strangely cute these characters, with their unique eyes and feet, etc. I wonder what he was thinking about us?

The weather was amazing and the view of the mountain was both impressive and daunting. After around a 5 hour trek we made it to Old Moses’ hut at 3,300m this is a cluster of huts with kitchens, dormitories, and a communal dining area. It is a cosy place to rest and adjust to the altitude. As the sun set however, we were reminded that the mountain is a harsh place. The temperature dropped rapidly to below freezing and everyone gravitated indoors. There were around 20 others and their respective support at the huts and we had some great chats with people from many different countries and backgrounds over another fine dinner. Once again Mohamud did us proud and we certainly had the best food, eliciting looks of food envy from other groups having much more primitive fare!

After a reasonable nights sleep (for being in a shared dorm) we awoke at 6.30 with a target departure of 8am. It was still bitterly cold, a feeling that living in Kenya you tend to forget! We sorted the bags out, put on layers of clothes and filled ourselves with a hot breakfast of sausage, egg, pancakes, cereal, juice and coffee. 8am we ventured outside, our breath turning to steam in the cold. Very quickly though, with the sun rising, the layers came off and continuing the trek, we were soon very hot. The landscape was now more heathland like. The trees of the forest had been left behind the day before as the altitude and cold became too much for the trees. Plants more adapted to these conditions took precedence.

We stopped at one of the junctions in the path and I took this photo of our entourage. I have to say I was feeling slightly embarrassed at the size of my pack compared to the big thing the small porter was carrying! However, later in the trip I would be very grateful!

We continued the climb and had another fantastic hot meal by a mountain stream.

We encountered Rock Hyrax (which got a little agitated by the strange beast with a camera that got a too close for his liking!!), together with some beautiful birds and more strange plants. Again as we climbed the landscape continued to change and by the time we reached our hut for the evening, Shiptons 4,200m there were very few plants that were surviving now. The air was noticeably thin and as soon as the sun dipped behind the mountains the temperature plummeted to well below freezing.

Again we were in a mountain hut comprising about 5 dorms each could house 10-12 people in bunks. Then there was a communal dining room. We chatted to other climbers, some had been up since the day before doing an acclimatisation walk in advance of attempting the summit. We enjoyed another commendable feast from Mohamud’s team in the kitchen. We were even provided with a charcoal stove to heat under the table and keep us warm, he thinks of everything.

A lot of the others were trying to summit for sunrise. This meant getting up at 2am. We decided to give that a miss and plumbed to set off at 5am. Sleep was limited, whether it was the cold, altitude or pre-summit nerves, I am not sure. The nature of the hut meant we were also awoken by the others getting ready to set off at 2am. The alarms finally went off at just after 4am and we gathered our things, drank copious cups of hot tea and ate a hearty breakfast.

Head torches on, we set off into the darkness for the slow, steep and very cold ascent. On the ridge above us we could see the lights of the other group, way above us. The incline quickly steepened to about a 1:3 of loose scree for the next hour or so. Progressively, ice was holding the loose stones together but, occasionally and unexpectedly it was slippery so that kept us on our toes. Finally, after a couple of hours, the scree stopped and the incline eased. Snow however was making an appearance now. We crested the rim of the shoulder which we were to then track along to the final 1hour kick for the summit.

The advantage of our later start meant we had now had the warmth of the sunrise. The walk was now much more pleasant but, with the decreasing oxygen was no less tiring. The pace was very slow now, we were taking short baby steps and resting every hundred metres or so. The 360 degree view from here with the golden hue of the morning sun, the ruggedness of the mountain and the rest of the mountains in the range was amazing.

Finally, after a last kick for the summit we made it to 4985m and the 3^rd highest of the 3 summits of Mount Kenya. The others require some serious climbing that my “respect” (AKA fear!) of heights will not permit me to attempt. At the top we could see the summit of Kilimanjaro about 250 miles away in Tanzania (Amazing!) .

Something I was not expecting was a Via Ferata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata) on the descent across the glacier. Again my fear of heights came to the fore! We traversed the glacier and climbed down rock faces using the metal wire fixed to the rock and the occasional metal rung steps. Significantly easier and safer than if it was not there but that did not stop my Elvis style leg wobbles at a couple of more precarious moments!! Finally off the snow, we descended in the sun down scree slopes towards lunch. During this walk Mohamud explained how far the glacier had retreated over the last 10 years – scary!! At that rate it will be gone in the next 10!

By 1pm we made it to the lunch stop and had caught up with the advance group. Lunch was very welcome, although I was still feeling slightly nauseous from the altitude. I could not eat as much as I should have. We were all very tired after the early start and negotiated a 1 hour sleep stop on the bunks in the hut before setting off in the now rapidly fading visibility down the remaining 3 hours hike.

The mist gave way to rain and the predicted 3 hours turned out to be wildly optimistic. We finally made it to out night stop by 6pm after 14 hours walking(less a couple for sleep and food). The worst part was the last 2 hours were in heavy rain and sleet. We had been lucky up until then and it could have been a lot worse if it had rained in the morning. However, our final hut had a raging log fire to welcome us and we soon forgot the rain as we warmed up. In the evening I had got my appetite back and had a feast before falling into an exhausted deep sleep at 8.30.

The final day we awoke to warm sunshine and a gentle 3 hours walk out of the national park. An amazing trip overall and highly recommended. I returned to Kandara Saturday afternoon leaving the other 3 to chill out in a smart hotel.