Skip to content

Mt Kenya

No Picnic on Mt. Kenya part II – Here comes the sun..?

Here-Comes-The-Sun

Here’s the second part to my Kenyan climbing trip…

My alarm sounded at 2am, and with some intrepidation I opened my tent and looked up at the sky. The stars I had hoped to see were hidden by thick, wet cloud.  Gloomily I dressed and set off at 3am with Cyrus, my mountain guide.  He was full of excitement as, in his opinion, the weather was ideal.  I take my hat off to him now as by 4am the skies were clear.  A dense layer of fresh snow had fallen over the last 24 hours which made progress very slow, particularly as it was knee-deep and wet.  To a Kenyan this is unknown, but to a British winter climber like myself, this is perfectly normal.

Read More »No Picnic on Mt. Kenya part II – Here comes the sun..?

No Picnic on Mt. Kenya part I – Still falls the rain (and snow)…

Blizzard-at-4000m

I have travelled the world for over 20 years. In that time I’ve been lucky enough to climb high mountains, hack through dense rainforest, and meet wonderful people.  I’ve had a few scrapes and come home with tales of adventure that few would survive, and had my heart broken many times because of my ramblings, but I still love to travel.  When I was young, I would happily do all this alone, with the world as my oyster and nothing able stop me.  As I’ve got older, I’ve realised that it’s not just the journey, but the sharing of experience that matters. It was with this in mind that I happily planned an ascent of Mt. Kenya with my friend Mandy.  Why am I telling you this..?  Because of a tearful phone call I received that day of our departure.  Mandy was unable to join me because of a sudden family emergency. What do you say in such a situation..?  Whatever words I could muster seemed pointless, and it was with a heavy heart that I left the shores of this sceptered isle alone, on a plane, bound for East Africa.Read More »No Picnic on Mt. Kenya part I – Still falls the rain (and snow)…