Mount Kenya

The flight was supposed to include Ryan, Tonya, Sage, and me. It was a rough start with Ryan testing positive for Covid. Since Tonya is traveling with Ryan and is exposed, that ruled out her traveling, as well. Sage went to the airport on Sunday morning to catch her flight to Amsterdam in order to meet me, but was denied boarding the flight. Her Covid test, while negative, was done a day earlier than required.

After finding a rapid testing center in Salt Lake City, testing negative quickly, and, by the grace of God, one seat opening on my flight, she was able to join me! I was buttoned up with all my requirements to board: negative Covid test, E-visa, yellow fever vaccine, and the completed Covid health questionnaire for Kenya.

We are trying to be nimble and accepting of the constantly changing rules regarding Covid and testing requirements for entry in different locations. The Covid rules changed for arriving in Amsterdam and travelers there now need a negative test within three hours of departing for their country. Luckily, the Atlanta international airport has a testing center just for this purpose and things went well for us. I have tested negative for Covid every time I’ve been tested, but I still get nervous with each test that I somehow have contracted it unknowingly and will have to abort all my plans.

The travel hours have seemed endless — four hours to Atlanta, eight hours to Amsterdam, and nearly nine hours of flight time to Nairobi including layovers. When I arrived in Nairobi, I got through all the customs, Covid protocol, and visa entry, and ended up at the hotel midnight local time. Over 24 hours travel and subsisting on airplane snacks had me a little worried about the first days of the trip!

When I checked into the hotel and got to my room, I realized there was no air conditioning. Nairobi sits virtually on the equator and is super hot and humid. Transferring to a hotel with AC was out of the question after Nairobi’s strict 10pm curfew. Sleep didn’t come for a while with the time change, despite my extreme travel fatigue.

On Tuesday, I met with Ruth to deliver some amazon fire tablets for a research project, and for the ambulance for her hospital. It feels great to be able to help someone in the early part of this journey and to make a positive impact far from home.

We then drove three hours to Naro Moru town. We connected with the porter crew and drove one more hour to the Naro Moru gate. We walked and additional four hours to the first station, where we spent the night to acclimatize.

We saw some beautiful chameleons and tiny birds everywhere! It’s beautiful, sunny, and much greener than I thought it would be here! The hiking has been very slow and steady. The light wind was a welcome change from the extreme heat of Nairobi.

We have plenty of help and everyone is grateful for the work. The happy, grateful energy is contagious and really lifted the group’s vibe all around!

After breakfast we hiked up a boggy gentle moorland and into the Teleki Valley. After two hours of walking along the valley, we arrived in Mackinders Camp (4300m) late afternoon. Overnight here for acclimatizing.

We stayed here for a fully day of acclimatizing and took a short walk touring the western circuit, including some lakes, as an excursion. It was a restful day, but also a little stressful when I realized I was missing a glove. I’m going to make-due with hand warmers that I brought along.

The days here start at freezing. When the sun is out, it’s hot. When the wind blows or the sun sets, the temperature plummets.

Goal Zero sent me to Kenya with some solar panels and batteries, and it’s been everyone’s lifeline to home. Thank you to Goal Zero for keeping us charged and able to provide updates and stay connected! We’ve been able to share with the porters on our trip and they have been so grateful. I plan to donate these items to them at the end of the journey to help make their lives a little easier.

After breakfast, we walked along the trail leading to the upper end of Teleki Valley. From there, we hiked up a steep ridge heading toward the Austrian Hut. We did another hike to Point Lenana, which is just shy of 5000m at 4985m, to add a touch more elevation to the day. Point John (4885m) is closely visible all along the climb on the ridge with a big chunk of the remaining Lewis Glacier (unfortunately melting away) spreading downward into the Lewis Tarn.

We tested all of our gear and crampons, and also packed all of our summit bags for tomorrow’s summit attempt.

I’m hoping the weather cooperates for us! Last night was my worst night in the mountains. The wind was insane and would rip through my tent, unzipped all the zippers. My body weight was the only reason the tent didn’t blow off the side of the mountain. I need to catch up on rest to fill my energy bucket for the summit attempt!

We got up at 4:30am, ate breakfast and did our last preparations for a 5:30am hike to the start. We arrived at the start at 6:30am to a bit of a cluster with ropes and gear not being quite right. We couldn’t start before sunrise, but it was light enough at 6:00am and we could have really started then.

I climbed out with a guide named Jon. We had 14 pitches to arrive at Nelion Peak. What should have taken six hours only took us five hours, so we had a great pace and were feeling really positive. This section included a lot of scramble and exposure with two difficult sections made even more difficult at altitude.

Batian is the section highest peak of Mt. Kenya by 11m, the true summit, and a real pain to get to! We crossed through the Gates of Mist – the whole area felt like living in a cloud. Beautiful, but a little disorienting. We needed ice axes and crampons for the whole section. There were no fixed lines, and this four-hour part of the summit journey felt more dangerous because the falls were longer if they were going to happen. Success in summiting!

The descent down from Nelion Peak requires 14 rappels and one traverse with ropes. Because Mt Kenya is located virtually on the equator, it was pitch black by 7pm. We had to do half of the descent with head lamps and it took much longer than expected to be safe. We got down safely and hiked back to Base Camp.

I was so exhausted, but so fulfilled, that all I could do was eat and sleep in my clothes with three warm water bottles!

I’m so grateful for the experience, to have two of my seven expeditions down, and for the shower that is in my future!