This weekend I spent 4 days climbing the 4,985m trekking peak of Mount Kenya. It’s the second highest mountain in Africa but it’s supposed to be a harder climb than Kili because you have to scramble at the top. Plus far fewer people climb it so you are mostly on your own which is really nice.
Although I wasn’t in a group I met some interesting people. Nick, an Australian who was climbing the technical peak (i.e. requires proper climbing with ropes), seemed to have climbed everywhere and gave me Diamox (a drug which helps acclimatisation) which I’m sure is the reason I felt fine ascending 3000m in 3 days. Kyle, an American who had been working in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps for 2 years, was cycling from Lake Assal in Djibouti the lowest point on the African continent to Kili in Tanzania, the highest point. There was also a group from the British army there for training who were camping. They told me it had got down to –20 at night in their tents.
We went up to the peak at 3am to be there for sunrise. It was freezing (the water in my bottle froze) and exhausting but worth it.
I had been recommended a guide and was supposed to be joining a group, but the others didn’t turn up for some reason so it was just me, Ibrahim the guide, the cook and a porter. We started at the gate at 2,200m and took 3 days to reach the top. We stayed in mountain huts which were basically wooden sheds with dorm rooms. They had no heating and were freezing! Luckily I had a good sleeping bag unlike a lot of people who seemed to be shivering in all their clothes in some thin sack.
Peak Lenane, the peak I climbed
Although I wasn’t in a group I met some interesting people. Nick, an Australian who was climbing the technical peak (i.e. requires proper climbing with ropes), seemed to have climbed everywhere and gave me Diamox (a drug which helps acclimatisation) which I’m sure is the reason I felt fine ascending 3000m in 3 days. Kyle, an American who had been working in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps for 2 years, was cycling from Lake Assal in Djibouti the lowest point on the African continent to Kili in Tanzania, the highest point. There was also a group from the British army there for training who were camping. They told me it had got down to –20 at night in their tents.
We went up to the peak at 3am to be there for sunrise. It was freezing (the water in my bottle froze) and exhausting but worth it.
At the summit with Ibrahim
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