We did it – Mount Kenya

I’m back in Nairobi having successfully summitted Mount Kenya’s Lenana Point, the third peak and the only one accessible on foot.

The trip started on Tuesday when we drove to Naru Moru on the west side of the mountain, and did an 8km warm up hike.

Early on Wednesday we drive via the park gate to the Metrological Station, where the hike began. We hiked 10km, ascending from 3000m to 4300m, through forest, bog and moorland. It was tough going, negotiating rocks and water/mud. We reached Mackinders Camp about 4, prepared ourselves for the morning, ate supper and had an early night.

On Thursday we rose at 1am and started hiking at 2:30. By the light of head torches we traversed rocks and streams, always pole pole to Austrian Hut on a plateau below the three peaks. Then we started climbing up Lenana. There was snow on the ground, frozen hard so providing purchase for hiking poles. There were steel cables to hang onto to avoid falling off the mountain, but not for use with bare hands in the sub-zero temperature. The sun was rising as we approached the summit, and we started to see our spectacular surroundings.

I was pretty much exhausted and the descent was steep and hard work, but the views were stunning. I also realised just how much we had climbed in the dark. By the time we returned to camp I could barely stand!

After breakfast and a short nap we were off again, hiking back to the Met Station. 10km, 1300m of descent, you’d expect a rapid hike. But the terrain in rough, rocky, boggy, so it took 4 hours.

Overall it was a fantastic experience, much tougher than Kilimanjaro despite being lower, because of the terrain. The views were amazing! And it was quiet – there were only 5 of us on the mountain (3 hikers and 2 guides).

I’ll add some more photos later.

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