Me and my girlsfriend are planning to climb Mt.Kenya via the Normal (South East Face) route. Some friends told us to leave ice-gear at home, as the Gate of the Mists can be done without ice-gear! However, they have been there in February. Do you think, that is also the case in August??? We arrive in Nairobi on 19th of August and want to leave for Mt. Kenya around the 20th. What kind of transportation from Nairobi to Mt.Kenya would you recommend???

Thanks, Martin

-- Martin Kaeser (kaeser@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de), July 31, 2002

Answers

Martin The mountain is pretty dry at the moment, and you only might need ice gear to re-ascend Nelion, if you leave a rope from your abseil then you can use it to get back if there's too much ice/snow. I don't want to say don't bring ice gear and then have you not being able to do it. As a compromise if you brought 1 axe and wore stiff boots I'm sure you'd be fine. Going straight to Mt Kenya after arriving means you'll have to take longer acclimatising, staying in Nairobi even makes a difference. To get from Nbi to Mt Kenya Mutates (mini vans) or Speed taxis are fine if not exciting, they both go direct. I think you can also get an Akamba bus for more security. These will drop you in Naro Moru or Nanuki. In terms of acclimatisation if straight off the plane it's probably good to sort out the porters and walk from there. You can hire expensive landrovers to take you to 3000m and public transport could take you a little further in. Cheers Will

-- Will (w.frost@cgiar.org), July 31, 2002.