Mt. Kenya

Ryan Murphy and myself on Point Lenana, Mt. Kenya 16,355 ft.
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Hello all.  I just had a wonderful experience with altitude and I would like to share it.  Back when Robyn and I were still in the the planning stages of this trip, my buddy Ryan asked if I wanted to climb Mt. Kenya with some of the guys from RVA when we arrived.  I said that would be fun and thus began the adventure.

Four days ago 6 of us took off from RVA for our 3.5 hour drive to the mountain.

Day 1:

Start elevation- 8000 ft.

Finish elevation- 11,000ft.

9 km, 2.5 hrs

This was a nice intro to our hike.  We started at 2:30pm and comfortably walked to our first hut where we would spend the night.  There were two other groups that showed up after us and we would be spending the next two days on the trail with them.

Day 2:

Start elevation- 11,000 ft.

Finish elevation- 13,800 ft.

12.8 km, 5 hrs

The day started off nice and clear and we were able to see the peaks for the first time.  We had crossed the equator on the first day, so it made it strange to see the peaks covered with snow.  It was beautiful sight.  We started off at 8:30 am and climbed until about noon.  At this point it started to rain and we finished our hike soaking wet and cold.  As we tried to warm ourselves for the second night in a hut, it started to snow.  And a hut is just that -- a hut. No heater. No fire. Just you and your wet sleeping bag.  Sleep was short that night.

Day 3:

Start elevation- 13,800 ft.

Topped out- 16,355 ft.

Finish elevation- 11,000 ft.

19.2 km, 10 hrs

Like I said, the sleep was short.  We woke up at 3:00 am after a total of 45 min. of sleep.  A couple of us were suffering altitude sickness and were unable to fall asleep.  We headed out the door at 3:30 and into the falling snow. It was 3.2 km and 2500 vertical ft. to the summit.  The sunrise was at 6:30 and we wanted to see it from the top.  We ended up summiting at 6:45 but the view was still awesome.  We were thousands of feet above the clouds and were able to see for miles.  I would say it was the best view I have ever seen.  We snapped a few pictures, congratulated each other, and then headed back down to the hut for breakfast and our hike back to the first hut where we had spent the first night.  A sleepless night, nausea, rain, and many km to go made the day very difficult.  We pulled into our final hut at 3pm and crashed.  I went straight to bed until 6 the next morning having not been able to keep down any food or liquid since summiting.  The rest of the guys waited for dinner and were all in bed by 8pm.

Day 4:

Start elevation- 11,000 ft.

Finish elevation- 8,000 ft.

9 km, 1.5 hrs

We all woke up early after having our first good night of sleep on the mountain.  Breakfast wasn't until 8 but we were all up and out before 7.  Everyone was feeling good and we were all ready to get moving.  All we had was 9 km back to the car.  Breakfast finished quickly and we were off the mountain by 10.  Though the day before we said we would never do that climb again,  it wasn't long in the car before the maps came out and we were planning a different route to reach the peak for the next time.