Mt. Kenya - Day 3

I looked back at our Lake Ellis camp several times as we trudged across the rather uninteresting landscape to start the day. It was so sad to leave Kiran and Priya behind. I had to re-convince myself that we had made the right decision for Kinaya and me to carry on.

After about two hours of steep and exposed climbing, we reached an ever-elusive ridge. From here we would veer to our right and follow the ridge for another couple of kilometers. It was the first time that my ears popped, and I began to feel the shortness of breath from the altitude. It wasn’t problematic; it just meant that we were stopping more frequently to catch our breath. Lance didn’t need to stop, of course, but Kinaya and I did.

Off to the left of our ridge, there was a steep drop-off into Nithi Valley/Gorge – a beautiful valley that develops steep walls as it ascends the mountain. At the top end of the gorge is Lake Michelson, a stunning body of water surrounded by high walls of volcanic rock.

Lance pointed out the location of some airplane debris near the top of the ridge across the gorge. In fact, this ridge has a bit of a history of crashes. I had to do some reading to fill in some of the gaps of what we learned from Lance.

debris from the 1976 crash

The earliest recorded crash on this ridge was in 1976 when an Emirates Air Transport plane prematurely descended in the clouds, crashing into the ridge and killing the four passengers. Some of the debris is still visible after nearly 50 years.

Then, in 2008, a Bell Longranger helicopter carrying some travel agents was flying low over the lake when it caught a skid, flipped on its back and went into the water. Amazingly, the pilot and two passengers were able to escape the craft and swim across the icy water to safety. The one fatality was unable to escape the helicopter as it sank.

the lake where the helicopter crashed

We would end up seeing a few helicopters buzzing around the mountain during our hike, one of them swooping down very low as it passed through the gorge. It would be fun but apparently, it’s not without risk.

The third crash happened in 2013. This was a small plane (Aeroprakt A-22) containing a renowned Kenyan conservationist and a cameraman for Discovery Channel aviation show "Dangerous Flights” (hmm). Given that it’s the most recent incident, and reportedly didn’t go in the lake, it’s likely the larger of the two debris piles we saw.

* * *

Anyway, back to the hike.

As we continued up the ridge, you could feel the temperature cooling and see the foliage changing. Apparently, there are different labels given to these zones (biomes), but the ones that I’ve heard the most to describe these levels in the East African volcanos are rainforest, moorland and alpine desert. You could very much feel the transition from moorland to alpine desert. Vegetation doesn’t disappear, but it becomes more sparse and very different. One of the more prominent plants that thrives in these conditions is the giant lobelia. These weird looking plants can take many forms as they grow to maturity, which generally lasts about 70 years!

lobelia cleverly storing water

This part of the hike consisted of ups and downs but, unbeknownst to us, we had gained most of the altitude we were going to gain for the day. Given the delayed start, Lance had anticipated that we wouldn’t arrive before about 4pm. That’s actually quite late given the drill of having tea, setting up the tent and getting settled in, then dinner and then getting to bed super early in preparation for the 2am wake-up.

arriving at Mintos Camp

In the end, we arrived at Mintos Camp by around 2:30pm. Either Lance miscalculated or we moved at a quicker pace than expected. Either way, it gave us time to have tea, relax, read, etc. Kinaya and I were both walking on tired legs and resting up would be critical to try to summit the next day.

Mintos, at least for me, is a magical place. You’re by a lake surrounded by about 270 degrees of towering rocky peaks. The temperature fluctuates radically when the clouds move in front of the sun. In my opinion, the camp could be a wonderful destination in and of itself. Even if arriving at Minto’s was all we did, it would still have been an amazing trip. But yes, we had our sights set on Point Lenana.

* * *

Officially, Mt. Kenya is made up of a number of peaks. The highest point, Batian, clocks in at 5,199 m. (17,057 feet). Just next to it is Nelion at 5,188 m (17,021 ft.). To be honest, they’re sort of like the same peak. But officially, they are separate. Point Lenana is officially the third highest at 4,985 m (16,355 ft), though some, including me, see it as the second highest.

our destination - the peak left of center

Anyway, most people who say they’ve climbed Mt. Kenya have climbed Point Lenana. Batian/Nelion require gear and skills that are out of reach for most people, including me at this point in my climbing career.

* * *

At Mintos, we had tea soon after arriving. They prepared some amazing mandazis (like square donuts). They were still hot and, without a doubt, some of the best mandazis I’ve ever had. Kinaya suggested that the setting had something to do with my impressions of our tea snack. Maybe. But it felt pretty fancy for our 4,200 m./14,000 ft. and highest camp.

After tea we did some reading and hydrating. I did some walking to loosen my muscles a bit, but I wasn’t too keen on doing anything strenuous. We had dinner around 6pm and by 7pm we were in the tent. One suggestion prior to the trip was that we bring hot water bottles to be filled each night. I have to admit, it was a brilliant perk. Once the sun went behind the mountain, the temperature plummeted. By the time we were in our tent, it was already below freezing. Clutching a hot water bottle as I slipped into my sleeping bag made the ensuing night a bit less intimidating.

Before dinner, Kinaya didn’t look well. She said she had a headache and it made me a bit nervous as to whether or not this might jeopardize the summit attempt. A light headache is not abnormal at that altitude; I had a slight headache myself. But if her situation were to deteriorate, we would need to call off the summit push and get her to lower altitude. I had her take one of her children’s headache meds and then I would give her a half Tylenol PM just before bedtime. She passed out almost immediately after getting into her sleeping bag and she would sleep peacefully until our 2am wake-up, barely moving at all during the night.

The night was cold but we were both wearing nearly all our layers. We were warned about the frigid nights up there and, as it worked out, the cold didn’t end up bothering us. Lance came by the tent at 2am to tell us that tea/coffee was ready. I, unfortunately, had already been awake for a while and quickly checked with Kinaya to see how she felt. She said she was fine and, after three days of hiking, it appeared that our summit attempt was going to happen.

clutching our warm drinks in anticipation of the climb

Mt. Kenya - Day 2

 Chogoria Gate to Ellis Lake, via Nithi Falls

 

The plan for day two would be to carry on up the road for about three hours, across a valley, and begin ascending to a campsite called, appropriately, Roadhead - the highest point you are able to go with a vehicle. From here we would continue on trails.

Though it's possible to camp at Roadhead, for us it was a resting point and place to fill our water bottles. It's rare nowadays to find a place where you can drink straight out of a river but Lance assured us that it was safe. I've been in East Africa for 20 years and I felt that should be okay. It's a risk given that you don't want to jeopardize your hike, but the combination of being hot and sweaty and trust in Lance's previous 150+ hikes on this mountain, I figured it would be okay. It was particularly good water, I might add.

* * *

Nithi Falls

At Roadhead, we would also make a detour of about one kilometer to see Nithi Falls. As we made our way along the somewhat gnarly, mostly downhill trail, I began to hope it was worth it given that we would need to make our way back to Roadhead and then continue on with our hike for another couple hours to our next campsite.

In the end, it was well worth it. It was gorgeous and the spray of mist dampening us in the midday sun was welcomed. After a short break, we hiked back up to Roadhead where we stopped again to fill our bottles and proceed on up the trail.

As we made our way along the treeless, exposed path, I was frequently checking with the family to see how we were all doing. My wife and daughters have a tendency to get headaches when doing physical activities, particularly when doing an uphill in the midday sun. The fact that we were now at altitude made me all the more wary of their hydration and fatigue levels. But all were well and moving along at a decent pace.

* * *

Lake Ellis

We finally arrived at Lake Ellis, a small body of water in a completely treeless area of the mountain. Though it was only the end of day two, I was beginning to feel more confident that we all might make it to the summit. Kiran had had a bit of a headache on day one, not long after we started, and Kinaya had had a small one was well, but all of us seemed to be in good shape at this point as we settled into our new campsite. 

I was still trying to get my bearings on the mountain but it was slowing dawning on me that this was a slight detour in the overall ascent designed to slow progress in gaining altitude and allow for acclimatization. It also provides a nice place to camp.

We arrived early enough that we had some time to read and put up our feet. We took a walk around the lake, closely watching ominous clouds on the horizon. It’s apparently not uncommon for rainstorms to hit without much warning. If you get wet as the early evening temperature begins to drop, you can find yourself in a real bind. You need all your layers to be dry as night sets in since you use most of your clothes to stay warm during the cold nights.

It took me a while to fall asleep. The porters, stellar as they are, have a tendency to stay up late and talk loudly. I understand. They are away from their families and probably enjoy loosening up after their very hard days. But it’s not great for the hikers who, in some cases, invested a lot of time and money to fly to Kenya for this once in a lifetime experience. Indeed, it would prove to be their evening routine. Only on the last night would they be far enough away to avoid disturbance.

And Then There Were Two

After another chilly night, we awoke and began to prepare for day three. As I sipped my instant coffee, it became apparent that Kiran wasn’t doing very well. She had been doing well during the first two days. She also had done considerable preparation, including a couple of hikes, one of which was a four-night/five-day hike in the Aberdare Mountains (which included a 30-kilometer day) a few weeks prior to this trip. To be honest, I thought she had the second-best chance of making it to the summit. And now, unexpectedly, she was teetering on the edge of not continuing.

Lance is a paramedic, so he came over and checked her out. He was leaning towards altitude sickness in his diagnosis, but I wasn’t convinced. We were only at 3,200 m./10,500 ft. and she hasn’t had issues at this altitude previously. Either way, she was not doing well, and the clock was ticking. If a team were to continue, they needed to get moving.

We gave her some pain meds and decided to wait a bit before making a call as to what we were going to do. I know the thought of messing up the hike for herself and others was making her feel worse.

After about 45 minutes, and her condition not improving, we had to make a call. In the end, we agreed that the logical thing to do was to have Priya stay behind with her and they would either stay at Lake Ellis a second night and then head down. Or try to head down the same day if her condition deteriorated and she need to get to some help. Kinaya and I would soldier on. She resisted any attempt I made to have her continue and me stay or have all four of us stay together.

I also felt horrible for Priya. She has had so many concerns about her ability to fend off migraines during hikes. Now, midway through this trek she was feeling fantastic and had no issues. She was well on her way to pulling off a successful summit attempt. I thought back to Tanzania several years ago when she came down with a migraine midway through the Kilimanjaro hike and needed to descend, missing out on summitting then. This seemed so unfair.

The three of us heading out

Alas, Kinaya and I put on our daypacks, said our goodbyes, and followed Lance out of camp, leaving a sick and disappointed child and a disappointed and concerned wife. Needless to say, it was a bit deflated heading into this third day of the hike. The focus now was on keeping Kinaya in good health, making sure she was in good spirits, and, yes, getting her to the top.

Mt. Kenya - Day 1

Climbing Mt. Kenya, Africa's second highest mountain, has been on my list for some time. After summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro back in 2007, Africa's highest mountain at 5,895 m./19,341 ft., I entertained the idea particularly because it’s in the neighborhood. The tricky thing about Mt. Kenya  (5,199m/17,057 ft.), however, is that the real summit requires equipment and a certain skill set that you don’t need for Kilimanjaro. Kili is a long hike with the challenge of altitude sickness which apparently ends the trek prematurely for about 50% of those who attempt it.

Most who climb Mt. Kenya don’t actually summit the highest peak. Rather, they target what is called Lenana Peak (4,985 m./16,355 ft.) – the highest point that doesn’t require ropes and harnesses and clocks in as Africa's sixth highest peak. As we would be going as a family, we obviously opted on Lenana. 

The hike plan was five days and four nights, including the 3-hour drive back and forth to the base of the mountain. As with most people who climb in Kenya, and as we did for Kilimanjaro, we hired a hiking company to facilitate the logistics and transportation.

* * *

Nairobi to Chogoria Gate

A small van would pick us up on Saturday morning at 7am. It was a more reasonable start time than I initially anticipated. Our guide, Lance (admittedly not a common Kenyan name), arrived on time with a driver. We loaded up and made the four-hour drive to the town of Chogoria which sits near the base of Mt. Kenya. While I’ve been on the west side of the mountain a few times, this was my first time on the east side. According to Lance, the east side is by far more interesting. That would prove to be the case.

In Chogoria, we met with our porters who would assist us with the hike. We would also change vehicles and squeeze into a small Toyota for the drive from Chogoria into the park where we would begin the hike. But first we needed to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant where we had our rendezvous. A couple bucks for chicken and chips (fries).

By about 1pm, we were heading towards the park. When you arrive at the park entrance, you need to check in. It’s an extremely tedious process that, for some reason, is to be expected when doing this sort of thing. The people that arrived before us were there for probably twenty minutes to a half hour. We were as well. It made me think about the border crossing between Burundi and Tanzania. In these semi-remote locations, they don’t seem worried that the process is archaic and slow since they have all day with not many people flowing through. There’s no real motivation to make the slow, handwritten entries in a logbook more efficient.

Homemade weight room with concrete weights. Gives you something to do when you're not delaying climbers.

We then drove into the park another half hour or so and we were dropped off. It wasn’t the end of the road, rather, it was for us to start hiking and begin acclimatizing. We would walk for a couple hours to where we would camp near the Chogoria Gate.

Road hike for a bit and then it becomes trail.

It was here that the real hike would begin the following morning. We officially met our porters and received our briefing for the hike. It was a nice setting, located at around 3,000 meters/9,800 feet. There is supposedly a lot of wildlife in the area (and lots of scat around our tent to testify to it) but all we saw were about four waterbucks and some Sykes’ monkeys.

We had time to get settled in and relax a bit before the sun began to set and the temperature began to drop sharply. We bundled up, had a basic dinner in one of the nearby cabins, and before long made our way to our tents.

As is the norm, I was the first one up. I was able to watch the morning sun just as it was beginning to catch the top of the mountain. The temperature had dipped well below freezing during the night and there was ice shimmering on the tent. It made me a bit nervous. If it was this cold at our current location, we were in for some cold weather the next couple of nights as we incrementally gained significant altitude.

It was wonderful to be on our way. Take a break from work. No cell reception for four days. Just us and this mountain.