Life is defined by many, many things, but mostly those moments that challenge us and reveal our mettle, summiting Mount Kenya is top most my greatest accomplishment.
I embarked on a journey to summit Lenana peak Mount Kenya, the highest mountain in Kenya, second highest highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro on Saturday 9th 2022. We accessed it using the Naro Moru trail a tough trail due to its steep ascend to make camp overnight at Naro Moru River Lodge/Teleki Lodge to make the final ascend the following morning. The hike is scenic with lolling clouds sweeping over the mountains, giant lobelias and moorland.
View from the summit 16,355 ft Above Sea Level
View from the descend
I had previously done a day hike to Mackinder’s camp having started at 10.30 am and summiting at 2.30pm, four hours. Which I would imagine is quite a great start considering the altitude changes and elevation of 4300 meters or 14200 feet above sea level. As I arrived at Mackinder’s camp one of the hikers we were with, remarked that it was just 6km to the Lenana peak summit a 500 meter gain in elevation. I recall looking back and thinking had I come prepared, I would have summited the very next day. Let’s just call this sentiment, an over estimation we were high from the mountain air. Hiking Mount Kenya is a fete that people prepare for, doing altitude hikes at many Kenyan altitude ranges. So having summited Mackinders, the rush of finishing, the feeling that one is unstoppable; turning back and heading home I was resolved to conquer this mountain.
This is me hunched over just a few meters to the summit, struggling to breathe, my heart palpitating so loud at his point I didn't think summiting was a possibility. It felt like my body was giving up on me. However much I wanted to proceed I couldn't breathe had to breathe through both my nose and mouth. I stood at this point for a good ten minutes until my heart rate became regular.
A mountain conquered, a victory realised!
The day arrived, we set out for Mackinder’s camp at 1:30pm and arrived before 6pm. The hike up the mountain scenic, we stopped every so often to take pictures and to just take in the sights. The weather was very favourable no rain, hail or snow, but nothing prepared me for the freezing winds. When we set out for the mountain, we had left the porters behind and with them our food rations and among them was our cook for the night. So you can imagine having arrived at Mackinder’s everyone was a bit famished there was not a hot meal and it was soon a dying of the light as the night set in. We asked if a fire could be lit but apparently due the thin air and the smoke from the firewood would apparently be poisonous. I think the whole idea of camping at Teleki lodge is so that the body can acclimatize during the night.
Giant lobelias
Waking up at 1:30am for a light breakfast we departed for peak Lenana, a 6km ascend with an elevation gain of 500 meters at 3am with nothing but our torches illuminating the way. The skies clear, stars visible, and the trail of torches lighting the way as we made our way up the mountain. Silence enveloped us save for the grunts and strained breathing as the altitude assaulted our senses; all around us the only sound audible was that of our feet as we made our ascend. The ascend gruelling and brutal, freezing winds, stopping for a minute or two for some reprieve to catch our breathe and acclimatise to the altitude. The air thin an assault on my lungs as I struggle with my laboured breathing, my heart palpitates so loud but we trudge on until we reach the Austrian camp and rest a bit before we make the final ascend which as estimated by the guide will take us another hour. At this point my fingers, toes and mouth are numb talking is impossible and when I make an attempt it feels like I had a visit to the dentist words come out jumbled.
We make the summit at 6am in time to view the sunrise four hours later; four hours is relatively the distance one covers walking 15km on a normal trail. Words fail in describing having succeeded to summit, but as the saying goes, “what goes up must come down”, and that was another challenge in on itself. All that mattered is that I conquered Mount Kenya!
The temperature dropping to freezing degrees, let me just say that no amount of preparation prepares you for how cold it got at night. The views though are incomparable!
