#40Things Number 25: Summit Mt. Kenya or as I called it, 4985.

This was not the original number 25. The original was to fight altitude sickness and go to Lake Ellis again. Lake Ellis is on Mt Kenya. Its 3455m above sea level.

A few years ago, we did a hike to Lake Ellis which is 7km from Chogoria Gate. It’s about a 4hr hike to the lake. Halfway to Ellis, I started feeling a slight headache and breathlessness. By the time we got there I was quite nauseated and feeling terrible. I didn’t even enjoy the views like everyone else.

My goal was do the Lake Ellis hike again and beat that altitude sickness so I wrote it down as number 25. Meanwhile I kept hiking in different areas and without realising it, I was able to go up to View Point which is 4100m above sea level without any altitude sickness. But it took someone else to point out that that was way above Lake Ellis which is 3455m.

Summiting Mt Kenya was at the back of my mind but I wasn’t so sure I’d make it, so I never put it on the list. A old friend of mine, Vivian, who had put summiting Mt Kenya as part of her goal for the year, was doing 6 peaks, including Elephant Hill, which, I’m told, is quite tough. As we kept talking, I got psyke so I figured if she can do it so can I. I committed to doing it and changed conquering Lake Ellis to summiting Mt Kenya. Point Lenana on Mt Kenya is 4985m above sea level.

Since I cycle a lot and exercise regularly, I figured I was probably fit enough to make it. But I wasn’t sure about my chest. I get breathless too fast. I was worried that I may not be able to handle that altitude well.

Meanwhile, Vivian summited Mt Kenya successfully. I was so excited, but the excitement was short lived. She was admitted to hospital the same day with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema which is a blood clot in the lungs. She was in hosi for about a week and homesick for almost a month or more. It was later discovered that she had an underlying issue.

I panicked. Am I still doing this? But I already committed myself to doing it. I was in so much fear, so much so that at some point I even thought that summiting Mt. Kenya will be the last thing I will do on this earth. If you saw my poster before I left, it was written “4985. This Is It.” It meant two things. It meant that I was finally going to conquer Mt Kenya. But it also had a hidden fear, of this is it, this is the end. I never talked to anyone about it because I thought that speaking it out loud would make it real. For some reason cancelling the whole hike was not an option. I just had to do it.

About a week to the hike, all the fear suddenly disappeared. I was ready! On the day of the hike, it came back briefly for a few hours in the morning then disappeared. My good friend, Ladu, called me on the day of the hike and told me, “Make sure you come back and in one piece.” I was like “usipanic, nacome. Talk to you in 3 days”. Inwardly was I like, “f*! Someone said it”. And for a moment I felt that fear again then it disappeared.

2 months before the hike, Robe, who was the organiser set us up with accountability partners. The goal was to keep each other in check in terms of preparing for the hike. My accountability partner, Mary, who was also Elizabeth’s acc. partner, did a splendid job, ensuring we walked or cycled to keep in check. I was the one who did the least. I was mostly too busy or too tired. But I tried to do as much as I could, working out at home, cycling, walking and jogging… okay I jogged once. I hated it. Since she had done Mt Kenya before, she knew the important stuff. Kwanza they ones that you’re not told. Coat your face, your hands and feet with Arimis. It helps keep warm. And it also protects your face from getting cold burns. You should have seen me with like a kilo of Arimis on my face, glowing like I just got laid…

4985. THIS IS IT

I slept at 1am having packed everything including tones of snacks which I didn’t eat and medicine which I didn’t use. Painkillers, Anti-acid and Emodium.

We left Nanyuki at around 8am. The drive to Chogoria took us around 4hrs, including stopovers. They had hired a mat for us. Tulipiga story. “Question, as a guy, if you were a chic, do you think you have gotten pregnant by now?”. My answer was no… lakini kuna kaperiod hapo between after high school and 2nd year campo, that I can’t really vouch for because weh!

Our mat ilikwama kwa matope about 5km to the gate. Actually ilikwama 3 times. The 1st and 2nd time, tuliskuma. We started walking; fortunately, a landrover picked us on the way. It was small so the boys had to go to the roof. Oh, it was so much fun. We were 8 participants. 4 guys, 4 ladies then 4 porters, 1 cook and 1 guide. There was a couple, Bonke and Liz. It was exciting to watch the dynamics of their relationship over the 3-day period. From lovey dovey to “kila mtu ajipange by the way” to “I got you babe” to “hweh… even me I need to be gotten”… To them walking together kuleeee in the distance away from everyone. Hapo tunajua kulikuwa na ka-inhouse meeting.

THE GROUP

Robe was the organiser and the photographer. I had carried my camera but I barely took photos. This was his 4th time hiking Mt Kenya. He was the one who helped keep the pace slow in case anyone was getting breathless or tired and the one who would cheer guys on to keep going. Bonke and Liz, you’ve met. Bonke was a motivator, “we can do it guys, let’s keep going”. Liz really struggled, altitude sickness, body weakness but she made it to the top. She gave up so many times on the way though. This was her first-time hiking. Not hiking Mt Kenya, hiking at all. Oh, and it was their wedding anniversary. Hii hawatawahi kusahau. Elizabeth or HR as we called her, was resilient. First time doing an altitude hike. But she pulled it off quite well. She got so emotional when she made it to the top. She couldn’t stop crying. Tom had summited before the previous year and he was quite fit. Yeye ni ule mtu wa kushindwa “sasa mnalemewa nini?”. 1 minute into taking a break he’d be like “haya, twendeni. Twende twende”. At the beginning we’d just go, then katikati we’d be like “we tulia mazee” then eventually we’d be too tired to even respond. He’s the one guy whose spirits were tiptop the entire way. Mary, my accountability partner, I would never have asked for a better mountain partner. She had done Mt Kenya before so she knew the little things, what extra things to carry, what to do when you feel nauseated or breathless, those little reminders to sip water, and a whole load of motivation. What she didn’t tell me was that the last time she hiked, she hadn’t been able to summit. She got too sick to do it when she was barely 300m from the top. I’m glad I didn’t know that. Yasmin, the smiling machine. This was also her first time. Yasmin has the most beautiful smile ever, when you’re feeling cold or beat just call Yasmin’s name. She’ll look at you and smile. That should give you strength for another 200 steps. Yasmin also really struggled, she fell a few times and injured her arm and hip slightly but she was able to summit. So much strength that woman. Then there’s me, resilient, one of the slowest in the team, especially during climbs; I’d get breathless very fast, but very resilient. My coping mechanism was singing. Just say one word, any word, I’d sing a song around it. Cold… “You’re as cold as ice, you’re willing to sacrifice…” ~MOP.

“Mwamisi ebu cheki..” “Cheki Monalisa anavyo tingisha…”…Mostly I’d sing under my breath, to myself. That was my way of numbing myself from the struggle.

DAY 1

At the gate they had prepared lunch for us; noodles, baked beans, guacamole, bread and juice. The 7km walk to Lake Ellis was uneventful, until the last 2km where it got a bit steep. At that point I was next to Bonke, giving each other psyke, him more than me, I was mostly quiet, “a few more steps” “let’s get to the top of that bend then we rest” “another step, we’re almost there”. It was dark by the time we got to Ellis. The first thing I did was add layers of clothes and an extra jacket. We sat around the fire tukipiga story. Dinner was remarkable; mashed potatoes, fish fillet, veg stew and fruits. We slept at around midnight. The night was beautiful…

The night was terrible. The tent I was sharing was small and slightly slanted so I kept sliding down towards my feet. I barely slept. The morning was beautiful. Waking up next to the lake, birds singing, quiet breeze, the sun shining, no noise, rolling hills around us. For those who haven’t been to Mt Kenya, it’s a whole world there. There are valleys, hills, lakes, rivers, forests, vast empty spaces. It’s not one giant climb.

DAY 2

Day 2 was the worst. It was such a long walk. It was 8km long but it felt like 100km. At some point it started raining. It was more like drizzling but a continuous drizzle. We were prepared for it but not enough. My waterproof gloves got soaked My boots got wet, I had two pairs of thick socks inside, both soaked. My rain jacket worked by preventing water from getting into my clothes but it still got wet enough for me to feel the cold on my shoulders and upper back. My fingers started getting numb and had this biting pain at the tips. Having watched Wandai’s experience in Mt Everest and how he lost two fingers because of the cold, I panicked. The guide told me to remove my gloves, pocket my hands and keep rubbing them to give them some warmth. This meant that I could no longer use my hiking stick. This was such torture. I regretted ever coming for this hike. It got so cold; we found a cave to shelter in. It wasn’t really a cave, more so, it was an indented huge rock we could stand or sit under. We had our lunch which we had carried, plus some snacks. We gathered all the papers and empty packets of juice. Fortunately, one of us had a matchstick, we lit a fire and warmed our hands. We ensured to put the fire out before we left. I borrowed socks from Tom, wore them on my hands as gloves and pocketed them.

Then the guide tells us, “Haya twendelee, we are halfway there.!” HALFWAY THERE!!! I died inside. Why am I paying money to be tortured? Yaani ni kama nilijipeleka torture chambers nikawaambia “niaje, niaje wasee. Mko fiti? Sasa, kuna gig niko nayo Tuesday. Sijui kama mko available? Ni urgent!”. I pretty much zoned into myself, and swore I will never, NEVER! climb this nonsense mountain again. Not only that, I will never hike any other mountain, not only that, I will never hike again, especially if that hike has any type of elevation. The next mountain I see will be atop a helicopter. Afadhali nitafute pesa. We finally got to Mintos Camp. I had no idea how long we walked. No idea what time we got there. It was so cold; one could barely see more than 10 meters ahead. I think it was around 4pm. But it looked like 6pm. We had walked the whole day pretty much. Fortunately, it had stopped raining.

I went straight to my tent, found my luggage, changed to dry clothes. It was so difficult because I’m doing it inside a tent, kneeling or lying down and I can only have my hands out bare, for no more than five minutes. I had another pair of gloves which were in the main bag. The one the porters carried. Oh yah, we don’t walk with the porters. They are normally faster than us. Obviously. They carry all the stuff, food, tents etc and by the time you get to the camp, you find everything set up. I had on 7 t-shirts, and these are the cycling t-shirts, the long-sleeved tight ones. Point to note, carry thermal t-clothing. You won’t need to wear too much. Then I added on a hoodie and a snow jacket. I had 6 pants. 4 tights, 1 sweat pant and one waterproof tracksuit. 2 pairs of socks, snow gloves, 3 balaclavas, one woolen scarf and 2 marvins. Both the hoodie and jacket had hoods. I had an extra pair of dry sports shoes which nilikuwa nimenunua kwa soko 250/= last minute. Thank heavens I did. I was very warm. Plus, not forgetting a thick layer of Arimis on my hands, feet and face. We were next to the peaks but couldn’t really see them because of the thick fog. We didn’t chill much. Tulipiga story kiasi outside enjoying the barely visible peaks. There were other groups of hikers there as well. But mostly we chilled in the kitchen where it was warmer. I got a bit of altitude sickness, just a bit. I felt slightly nauseated, but they gave us some soup that cured it almost instantly. I forgot to ask for the recipe. But I think Liz did. Nitamuuliza. Liz was yule team couple.

We went to bed at 10pm. The night was absolutely terrible. Even worse than the 1st one. It was too hot inside the sleeping bag, too cold outside it. The dew outside the tent had frozen solid. The tent was slanting again. At 11pm I woke up. I just wanted to wake everyone up, we summit this nonsense and go home. I was done. DONE! I have never been so annoyed. My tent-mate Bonke was fast asleep. I was so jealous. I took my phone. Oh ya, hakuna network huko. So, for 3 days you’ll be out of touch with the world. It helped because my phone was mostly off and kept charge. Plus, I had carried my powerbank. We were to wake up at 1am. So, I decided well, I might as well keep myself busy playing games on the phone until 1. You know that song by Madonna, “time goes by, so slowly”. I experienced that song for real. Yaani nacheza games for 45min then I check the time, it’s 11:12pm. Naskia kuchapanisha hiyo simu kwa ukuta ya tent… now that it had become an ukuta because of the frozen ice. If there was a bonfire, I’d have gone to chill there. But it’s too cold, there are no trees up there so no firewood for a bonfire. Wimbo zote za time, I sang them in my head akina Kesha, Tik Tok… “wake up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy”… Na P-Diddy mahali yuko ako kwa kitanda warm, comfortable feeling fresh. I hadn’t showered in 3 days. You can’t shower. You can’t even remove your clothes for more than 10 seconds.

Finally, it was 1am and the voice of our guide waking us up was like the voice of an angel. I don’t think there was anyone as excited as me to get out of that damn tent. I was the 1st one awake and out. Then I saw it….

DAY 3

I have never seen a more beautiful night sky. The sky was clear, the stars seemed so close, the mountain peaks were so clear and white with snow, glistening in the bright moon, you could almost touch them. Oh wow. Now I know why I came here. “Oh wow” I exclaimed out loud with all my heart. “This is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen”. Mpaka the guide told me to keep quiet, I’ll wake other people up. Too late. I saw people coming out of their tents to see. “Oh, my word”. I don’t think it can be written down or captured on camera, I tried. It’s something to experience yourself. I was so excited; my spirits were up. By 2:30am, we had had our breakfast, packed our things and started the 4km journey to Point Lenana, 4985.

We had headtorches on to help us see the way. Because my boots were still damp, I put on those small black trash bags over my socks and under my tracks. I had carried a whole packet. Liz and Robe wore them too. They helped kabisa. My feet were warm the entire way.

The matope on the ground was frozen. When stepped on it crushes and exposes the ice under it. It looked like we were walking on a path of broken glass. It was so beautiful. I really wanted to take a video but it was too cold to remove my hands from the gloves. We began the slow pace, really steep climb up to the peak. It was a beautiful walk. We walked slowly, took many breaks, always waiting for each other. I remember at some point I felt really nauseated for a couple of minutes. I’m not sure if that was altitude sickness because it happened just after sipping hot water. Robe offered to carry my bag for a couple of hours. Fortunately, all I had in there was my camera. We were quite warm as long as we walked. Whenever we’d take a break and sit on the huge rocks, we’d get cold really fast. The rocks were coooold. Below 0°. Our breaks were never longer than 10 minutes.

THE SUMMIT. 4985.

The goal was to make it to the summit before 6am so that we could watch the sunrise. We didn’t. We were moving really slow. But still the sunrise found us at a beautiful spot, we were already in the snow, above the clouds. It was such a remarkable sight. We could see the sunrise from really far away, above the clouds. It got warmer and warmer. Warm enough for us to remove our jackets and gloves.

We finally got to the summit! It was almost 8am. It was the most amazing feeling of achievement ever. We were so happy, we hugged, high fived, talked excitedly about how we almost gave up, ticked this off our bucket lists, HR cried, she was too emotional, talked about “if we can achieve this, there nothing in life we can’t set our minds to achieve and fail”. It was such an overwhelming feeling. I don’t know how best to express it.

Guys, the view from the Point Lenana is amazing. The clouds are below us so the sun is right with us. Its not too cold. The snow was still there though I guess coz the ground is still very cold. It was more rock than snow.

We stayed there for about 30-45min before starting our journey down. Oh I had carried White Cap so that we can have White Cap on the white cap… lakini wapi. First of all, the White Cap zilifreeze zikakuwa mawe, then I forgot them in the bags huko chini. There a point you get as it gets warmer, you strip your bag, jackets, gloves etc and just leave them on the ground anywhere to pick them when going back.

Just so you know, there are 3 peaks; Lenana, Nelion and Batian. Everyone hikes to Point Lenana which is the lower of the 3. Batian is the highest. Both Batian and Nelion require rock climbing expertise and gear, so only trained people are allowed. Ata iwe nini ama nini, siwezi thubutu. You should see how steep they are.

THE JOURNEY DOWN

Climbing down that peak was not exciting for me. I have a healthy fear of falling. It was quite a struggle for the 1st 30 min but the rest was quite doable. We finally got to a point after tumemalizana na snow where we could see Shiptons Camp, which is where were going to have our breakfast, proper breakfast now. It’s a 2hr walk they said. To me it looked like a 45min walk. Wacha niwaambie wakuu, we took 5 hours. FIVE! Na unaona ndio ile lakini it’s not getting any closer. Shiptons na “Jesus is coming soon”, same wozup. It got colder so we had to put our jackets and gloves back on. Imagine walking down a steep slope for 5 hours. Haiishi. Magoti zauma, mwili umeisha, baridi ndio hiyo. But for me it was easier and better than going up. I always prefer going down coz I never get breathless… Get your mind out of the gutter, nimekuona, yes you! The rocky terrain slowly started changing to green terrain, beautiful streams, strange tall sisal looking plants. You never have to worry about carrying water. Just fetch from the stream and drink directly. It’s cleaner and more delicious, more refreshing than any tap or bottle water you’ll ever taste. To keep us busy tulipiga story tukiteremka moss moss.

By the time I was getting to Shiptons my body was done. My legs had given in. I just wanted to get a bed and sleep. Breakfast was served. 3 types of pancakes banana, an omelette like pancake and I couldn’t quite place the 3rd one. Then sausage, fruits, uji and tea…. The uji was so delicious. Then the guide tells us “haya twendeni, we have 14km to walk”. That’s about 5 hours of walking…. We walked for 7 hrs. From 1pm to 8pm. My gosh. The beauty about the journey back was the views. The views of the peaks from Shiptons Camp are amazing. And we were walking in between hill ranges between us. We were pretty much following a river path. We were smack in the middle of a valley for about 7km. Then the terrain changed to rocky for about a km and we climbed to View Point. When I got to View Point, I was so excited. “I have been here before.” Remember I had mentioned it earlier in the story. I recognised it “I know where we are.” From View Point it was about 6km or so left to get to Old Moses, our destination. That’s where we’d find our van and our luggage waiting for us. And have our lunch… Lunch.

After View Point its moorland. If you remember your Geography, moorland is swampy. It is swampy land as far as your eye can see. It took us almost 2 to cross the swamp. Hapo lazima boots kwanza in the rainy season. And it was rainy season. It’s easier to walk right in the middle of the stream because the rocks are less slippery than walking on the grass or matope.

It was an exciting trek, tulipiga story zetu zote. Unapiga story na hii group, unaexchange unaenda kwa kina Robe, who is quite the story teller, then unatembea kina Yasmin for peace and quiet and smiles. Tom was our time keeper and distance tracker. He had on a Garmin watch, or one of those tracking watches. On the 3rd day we walked a total of 22km. When it got dark, at around 7pm, we walked together in a single line just in case of wild animals. Wild animals rarely approach humans, therefore as a group, there’s enough noise to tell them kuna watu wanapita, keep off. The animals to expect are buffalo, leopards and elephants. But you’ll probably never see them. Kwanza the leopard, you’ll never see it.

We finally got to Old Moses. WE HAD DONE IT! We had made it! Some of us didn’t think we’d do it, some of us didn’t know how we’d possibly do it. And all 8 of us had made to the summit and back successfully. I would never have asked for a better team to summit Mt Kenya with. We were a team of mostly inexperienced individuals who all we had was a little bit of strength to push each other. Oh and we did, we helped each other a lot. Held each other’s hand at various points, carried each other’s bags, waited for each other, pysked each other up. None of us ever felt alone. I remember there were points where we’d all stop walking ndio tujipake Arimis kwa uso na mikono to feel warmer. And we’d do it so fast so that you can put your gloves back on before your hands freeze. It was such a hilarious sight, come to think of it. But at that point it wasn’t. It was just a team keeping each other on check. “ongeza Arimis kwa mapua ndio usipate cold burns”. The random call “Liz, uko poa?” because you haven’t heard her talk in a while. Or “Bonke, unaskiaje chest?”.

We had our 8pm lunch. You should have seen us, all energised. So happy, it’s like we had just arrived and were preparing to go for a hike. We had so much energy. Except for Yasmin. She was really beat. She went straight to the van to rest. We then got into the van for the 1hr drive back to Nanyuki town. All I wanted was a shower and a bed.

On the mountain I swore I will never do this nonsense again, but I think I might. Maybe, just maybe.

4985.