Mount Kenya

Our Safari trip came to a close sadly as Bakari dropped us in Arusha to meet another bus heading back to Nairobi, Kenya. Arusha is the hub of the northern Tanzanian safari circuit with much modern tourist facilities. We had a meal in a very comfortable and modern-looking hotel but when the bill came we were surprised. Apparently their prices were designed to mislead. Since Dirk and I didn't have enough cash on us, after protesting the lady managing the place accepted what we had. Once arrived in Nairobi, we decided to stay in a different hotel: one with a nice cafe at the bottom floor. While having dinner we met numerous backpackers, one doing an overland trip from the southern to the northern tip of Africa (Capetown to Cairo). Quite incredible. Hearing that we planned to climb Mount Kenya, our hotelier immediately called up a trekking operator. A young, smart fellow named Josiah Waithaka from a company called Mountain Madness came to meet us the same evening. He appeared to have done technical climbing himself, unlike the more business-like travel agent lady we booked our Kilimanjaro trip with. Dirk and I were impressed, and the name Mountain Madness rang a bell (it's actually a well-known guiding company based in the USA, but we found out later that Josiah's company was unrelated to it). So we concluded a deal at a reasonable price with him, and he promised us to head for Mount Kenya the next day.

We spent 7 days on Mount Kenya, including the first day driving from Nairobi to Chogoria, a little country town on the east side of the mountain. We started pretty late since Josiah took some time to put together the car and some provisions. Peter, a robust, charming fellow came to join us. He would be our trekking guide from here on. As we traveled pass the highlands of central Kenya there were much lush forests, banana, tea and coffee plantations, a stark contrast with the arid Tanzanian landscape we'd been traveling through in the last weeks. In the colonial days English farmers coveted this fertile land; even now there are siginifant numbers of white-owned farms around here on land originally taken from local Kikuyu people. At Chogoria we met our 4 porters: John, Robert, Wilson, and Paul, 3 of which are Kikuyu and one is Meru, found on the east side of Mount Kenya. The morning of the second day, our trekking party laden with groceries and raw meat rode a jeep through the lush forests to the park gate. The deep ruts in the dirt track we were riding on got even deeper the further we went, eventually to about one and a half foot deep. Our jeep driver made a few moves that made Dirk nervous, then the jeep got stuck. It took a while for our guys to get it going again. Unlike the low-altitude trailheads on Kilimanjaro, the Chogoria park gate for Mount Kenya was at 9840 feet (3000 m) elevation, the landscape here was alpine moorland. We'd already passed through several eco-systems, including the beautiful bamboo forest belt.

Two buffalo skulls decorate the park gate, along with a sign warning of large animals. Then an elephant appeared, attracting attention from hiking parties. We started hiking around noon time on a hot, shadeless trail. The afternoon was spent hiking along the rim of a majestic U-shaped valley, among grassy slopes and low shrubs. This is Gorges Valley, formed by prehistoric glaciers. In the middle of the valley in the distance we saw a dainty high waterfall formed by a big elevation change of the valley bottom. The air was cool with light mists swirling around us, it's ideal hiking weather. The scenery was wonderful and magical, somewhat reminds me of the Lord of the Rings movies. There were many ups and downs during the day's hiking; later in the day I became sweaty and tired, lagging behind others. Peter decided to carry my pack for the last 2 miles, still it was one of my most painful hiking days (over 5000 feet elevation gain and over 10 km). Finally I reached our camp site beside a clear alpine tarn called Mintos tarn (14100 feet elevation / 4298 m). Surrounding the tarn are rugged volcanic crags, among which giant groundsel and lobelia plants unique to high mountains of East Africa proliferate. As the sun sets it became freezing cold and the giant plants helped create an eerie other-worldly atmosphere.

The next day our hike was much shorter as we trudged our way to Austrian Hut (15715 feet / 4790 m), the main basecamp for the summits of Mount Kenya. Enroute we traversed lots of scree and even passed an airplane wreckage. We arrived at camp fairly early, so I explored the sturdy building with several rooms where the porters from many parties were staying. The building sits on solid rock, but around it many solid ice patches formed from washwater. Both sides of the building has dramatic views: looking west one sees Mount Kenya's jagged central summits (Nelion, Batian, Point John, Point Lenana, Point Thompson) shrouded in swirling mists, majestically presiding over Lewis glacier; looking east one sees Hobbley Valley dropping down to the horizon bounded by two long ridges of peaks and a sea of clouds. Despite the copious beauty, I was occupied by worry: my stomach was not feeling good after several days at altitude, and I was coughing a lot. With a very long technical route ahead I needed to be as fit as I could be. The freezing cold and the chilling mists bothered me. We retired to the hut, where we made a decision to scout the beginning of our route the next day, and do the actual climb the day after. This meant we would have a rest day to adjust to the altitude, and also we would avoid wasting time looking for the route on the day of our climb.

The next day we had a late start, and chatted with a pair of mountaineers from Colorado over breakfast. The guy and girl had made the Mount Kenya summit in a single day. They were obviously very good climbers, the guy was a professional mountain guide. We then navigated to the start of the technical climbing route on the east face of Nelion, which took two hours. It required crossing the Lewis glacier, which was a piece of cake with or without crampons, then ascending about 800 feet of talus/scree. Along the way I discovered a dessicated carcass of a leopard, very unusual for this high altitude. Apparently it couldn't survive this cold country. There was another party there also scouting the route, and a Kenyan guide waiting. Dirk gave him instructions on rope techniques while waiting for the other party to move further. Then Dirk attempted parts of the first two technical climbing pitches without roping up, it looked fairly easy. We returned to camp for lunch, then in the afternoon Dirk went for the summit of Point Lenana (16355 feet / 4985 m elevation) with our guide Peter. I declined to go because I was still not feeling well. I vomited food after having a meal, and felt emotionally overwhelmed. I stayed in the hut to rest up, or walked around camp to take pictures when the sun was about to set.

The next morning we got up at 4 am, our porter Wilson cooked pancake for us and saw us leaving camp after the quick breakfast. Hiking up the approach route was not easy because of the 800 feet elevation gain and our heavy packs, including sleeping bags, food and water for two days, ice axe, and crampons. As day broke we started out on the technical route Dirk leading each pitch and I following. There was a South African party of 2 who passed us before we got on the 1st pitch, then soon disappeared from sight. The mists started to surround us around 10 am, when we were close to the east ridge of Nelion. There was a stretch that Dirk thought was easy, but the heavy pack on my back made it much harder to balance on easy but exposed rock, so I panicked. I got Dirk to give me a belay there for a bit of peace of mind. Route-finding was never easy, after studying our guidebooks carefully we were able to find the correct route throughout the day. We moved on and on in the cool mist, except for one time my butt got wet from sitting on a belay ledge with snow, in general it was not as cold as I had anticipated. Of course I was using full protection including a heavy mask, parka, and gloves. By the time we reached Point Nelion at 17021 feet / 5188 m elevation, it was about 5:30 pm and the South African guys (Matt and Roger) were already there. Amazingly they had already climbed Point Batian from here and returned. It was a great relief for me to be done for the day, and even more so after seeing that the sturdy 6' x 6' x 4' metal box called "Howell's hut" was indeed a feasible shelter, securely bolted to the summit rocks. The summit of Nelion was small, only 20-30 feet across with precipices on three sides. From here we saw Point Batian, the true summit of Mount Kenya, only a few hundred feet away - a brooding giant with near vertical rocky faces. We were even able to see Mount Kilimanjaro in the distant horizon above the clouds, over 200 miles away. Majestic views surrounded us in every direction, with swirling mists floating around the rocky spires and Lewis glacier quite a ways below us. We had good conversation with Matt and Roger while doing the chores for the evening. I was glad to hear that Roger works in the urban planning field in Cape Town!

Overnight it was surprisingly warm in the box with four guys crammed inside. The box was well insulated with foam pads, and my thermal blanket and sleeping bag certainly did their jobs. Matt decided to sleep outside at some point in the night, probably annoyed by my and Dirk's constant coughing, or maybe it was simply too crowded. At one point Roger told me I was snoring, which woke me up. This became a joke Dirk kept telling others about me later on. I went outside to use the toilet and found it was not as cold as I expected. The air was amazingly still and no mist whatsoever.

The morning was sunny and glorious. No mists, only full view of Batian and the landscape far below us, free of clouds. The South African chaps went down, while we headed over towards Batian. This was the most challenging, almost harrowing part of the climb. We needed to descend 300 feet down to a gap called Gate of the Mists, then ascend the east ridge of Point Batian, a mere 37 feet higher than Nelion. Our descent from Nelion was at first manageable solo down climbing, then we rappelled down a buttress to the gap. We left the rappel rope there for later use. The gap was a thin knife edge surrounded by loose snow a few inches thick, offering no tracting to the foot. We needed to tread carefully as these snowfields dropped off on both sides precipitously. Once we crossed the gap, I accidentally dropped a walkie-talkie down there (while taking a photo of the dramatic landscape), never to be retrieved. We stashed ice axes at the gap to be retrieved on our way back. On the side of Batian, after ascending a few well-protected snow steps, we were on solid rock which was much preferred. Dirk set up and lead three pitches of face climbing on beautifully textured rock of a golden color, harder than granite it seems. In the last pitch it was easy enough we just unroped and scrambled to the summit. It was a great feeling to be at the top of Africa's second highest peak finally, after so much preparation and so much effort. However, we needed to get back safely, and we needed all the time we could have. So we stayed on the summit for less than 10 minutes before starting to head back. Rappelling down the three rock pitches were easy except for the last pitch, where Dirk rappelled to the wrong (left) side of the gap. That side was much more treacherous with steep snow and exposure. Not knowing this, I waited for Dirk for almost half an hour and did not hear from him respond after repeated shouts. Finally I heard he's getting himself out of the difficult terrain. He had to unrope himself in order to downclimb, which I couldn't imagine in this extremely exposed terrain. I retrieved my ice axe at the Gate of the Mists, at this time one side of the gap was already shrouded in the famous mists. Once Dirk made it safely to the gap, he started climbing up a steep snow pitch with some well-formed foot steps by previous climbers. About 10-20 feet away is the precipice. I couldn't follow this, it's just too much exposure without protection. I waited till Dirk made it up the rocky buttress so he could give me a belay. I roped up, then gingerly traced those footsteps in loose snow. Without protection here, one slip you're gone, no self-arrest is feasible with an ice axe. Even with the rope, if I slipped on the snow the rope would have taken me swinging to another side, maybe landing in even more treacherous terrain. After I climbed up this most appalling section, Dirk decided to continue up solo. I wanted a belay but he said it would take too long, he encouraged me to climb this section solo too. I decided to give my best shot. We were still in steep snow, sometimes just 10 feet from the edge of precipice; the only way to ensure some safety was to hold onto the rocks that protrude from the snow here and there. This turned out to be doable, so I did this section with the utmost care. There was no room for error at all, it was extremely nerve-wracking. After about 10 minutes, we were in much easier and safer terrain with much less snow. I could handle that more confidently. We made it back to Nelion and the metal box shortly after. This trip to Batian and back took us 4 hours.

Having done the toughest part of our climb, we rested for an hour. It was about 1 pm, we needed to head down. We started looking for rappell anchors according to descriptions in our guidebook. The first few were relatively easy, except one Dirk missed I was able to find when I rappelled second. As we reached the east ridge of Nelion, we just couldn't find the next anchor. We had to create a makeshift anchor, seeing that others had done this before by the gear they left here. Then we were able to find a few more anchors, but then we were stuck again. In the second-to-last rappell, the landing ledge was on the climber's left side, but I couldn't make myself go that way because of my heavy pack. I was exacerbated. I struggled with the weight on my back and the rappell rope in vain. Dirk was able to grab me after encouraging me to swing back and forth, eventually helping me land safely. Having lousy luck finding the next anchors we decided to make another makeshift anchor since the day was getting late. It was a big relief when we finally reached firm ground. We survived! We made it! The sun was setting now. Extremely exhausted, I hiked down slowly, eventually crossing the Lewis glacier when it was dark enough to need headlamps. At the other side of the glacier, we saw Peter, Paul, and Wilson waiting. They had come to meet us! It was such a relief to see them. Paul eventually picked up my pack, which helped me walk the last few hundred feet to camp. Peter told us they were very worried about us, but later in the day they were able to see that we were descending the mountain but missed several rappell anchors!

Our porters greeted us with hot tea, and Robert excitedly told us about watching us descending the whole afternoon. It was just great, people in the whole hut discussing about our missed rappell anchors! The hardest part of the trip was finally over, Dirk was elated that everything went successfully according to plan. The next day we hiked out toward Sirimon gate on the north side of Mount Kenya. After descending tons of elevation and seeing countless giant groundsels and lobelias, we took a break at Shipton's camp in Mackinder Valley. Here the north side view of the central massif was superb, with many small glaciers visible surrounding Batian and Nelion. This is a very comfortable facility and we met more tourists. After a short rest we proceeded further on an endless landscape of shrubs and grasses, among which roamed a plump pheasant-like bird called francolin. After many many miles of downhill, it started to rain and we hurriedly made it to the next camp - Old Moses camp, elevation 11155 feet / 3400 m. This was quite a comfortable camp with a nice series of buildings, although we camped outside in the crisp clear air. The lower elevation was a great welcome, as I was finally rid of the stomach upsets that plagued me everyday at Austrian Hut. The last day we hiked down for just 2 hours to reach Sirimon gate (elevation 2440 m / 8005 feet). Tons of wild flowers appeared along the trail, along with wonderful vistas of the lower flanks of the mountain and lush forests.

From park gate we went to the town of Nanyuki, where we enjoyed a beer and the local barbecue, called "Nyama-choma" (I think I got a case of the runs from it). The facilities were very basic but the people cheerful. We tipped our guide and porters generously, then parted our ways before heading to Nairobi with only Peter. As we passed the town of Karatina Peter told us this was his hometown. Finally we were back in Nairobi in the same hotel as before, enjoying a bath and relaxation. The next day we made arrangements to fly to Zanzibar for the last 6 days of my stay in Africa. Before leaving Nairobi we made it to the famous restaurant "Carnivore" and ate all kinds of game meat buffet style. It didn't take long for us to become extremely full.