攀登 in 肯尼亚

Climbed with Heloise. Three pitches up the North-East Gully. When we go to the steep wall we took a left up to a big boulder. From the boulder we rappelled down to the next gully and climbed to the peak in two pitches.

From the peak we did a mini abseil to the block with lots of tat. Abseiled down the North East Gully and walked down after 3 abseils.

Really nice intro to Mt. Kenya

Via the direct variation. Nice!

Took us 7 hours door-to-door from Shipton’s. Scrambled up the gully to the first tat anchors. Hamish led pitch one (very easy, probably could have kept scrambling or simul-climbing), the 2nd pitch was the crux (about 5.7), Hamish led and traversed a little left and then up a crack system to next tat anchor. I led the last pitch which is amazing (and pretty easy) across the ridge up to the summit. Chilled out climb, good for beginners to the alpine world!

Practice run with Mr. Martyn, my client. An hour from base to summit.

Bad weather. Rock completely wet. We used the variant described and it was not easy in mountaineering boots.

Nice rest day scramble. Lots of loose rock though, cool position on the summit.

In the fog all day. We did not know where we were going. Analysis what we did and the guide book, we think e did this route. Mostly second

Short climb (3 pitches) Mostly second

Really nice route at the grade. Short but steep enough the whole way.

Not the best rock

A great route. a total of 3 hours from base to top. This was the 3rd ascent and saw the party add their own finish to the climb by climbing directly up the tree roots to the roof on the last pitch. All in all, the route is insanely run out between bolts and one can easily climb past the odd bit of gear if not very keen. Traditional placements are scarce. As far as difficulty is concerned, I'd place the most technical cruxes somewhere in the 5.9 YDS range. Route could benefit from one extra bolt per pitch, but perhaps more so one rap ring or bolt directly above the route at the finish, to simplify access from above. Still, I personally had a blast leading this one.

First guided ascent of the route with one client and Ian Lekiluai.

We started the climb too far off to the right and had to negotiate a horrendous blank slab with no gear before rejoining the main route. I broke off most of the crux holds on pitch 4 and had to find a new way around the section of crumbling rock. After a number of scary leads, and Ian dislodging a massive loose flake. We finished the climb and hiked off the back with the Client's family. The route wasn't as kind to us as it had been on the first trip up.

Documentary filming with Gabriel and Ian. We worked and cleaned the route, dropping huge loose flakes while at it.

Documentary filming with Gabriel and Ian. We worked and cleaned the route, dropping huge loose flakes while at it.

Documentary filming with Gabriel and Ian. We worked and cleaned the route, dropping huge loose flakes while at it.

The plan was to rehearse the moves and do more cleaning on this day, but dark clouds indicated the arrival of the rains, so the final decision was for me to run up the route rope less on that day. On pitch 6, the rain begun to pour and by the time I summited, the sky completely let loose. It was a powerful moment. Bottom to top was about 40 minutes with a few long stops on the route as I had to wait for the drone batteries to be changed and for the drone to locate me on the large wall. All in all, a very significant ascent for me personally and the growing community of Kenyan born climbers.

Guiding a client.

We spent the night on the summit with Peter Lemayan and the client. At the break of dawn, we abseiled into the wall to the start of pitch one and climbed up from there. Quite an experience doing it that way.

Some serious unprotected sections, otherwise a very fun day out.

Led first try after following Sam once a couple of weeks before. Great route, especially the first 10m!

The hornets are super chill, don’t let them scare you off.