I’m a Mountaineer!!

I made it to the top of Mount Kenya…. What a trip! From the front gate we hiked 26 km horizontal, 2km vertical to an altitude of 4985 meters above sea level. Then we turned around and went back to the front gate for a total hike of 52km. The air is quite thin at the top and several members of our group experienced altitude sickness including myself. Fortunately for me I did not feel the effects until the descent so I was able to make it to the top ok. When I made it back to base camp my lungs felt like I had just smoked 40 packs of cigarettes and it really hurt to breathe.

The first two days were spent hiking to McKinders camp, which is 22km from the front gate and close to the bottom of the mountain. Through jungle, bamboo forest, plains, hills, valleys and finally jagged rocks, a hiking we went. We left Mckinders camp at 2am of the third day so that we could reach the summit for sunrise. We hiked for 4 hours in complete darkness, lead by a guide of course, under the most amazing night sky I have ever seen. When you are that high up its like you are in space. We reached point Lenana at 6am just in time for sunrise. It was incredible. From the peak you can see right across Kenya all the way to Mount Kilemandjaro, virtually the entire country.

The funny thing about the whole trip was that I was completely ill equipped to climb a mountain. I left all my winter gear at home in Canada where I thought I was leaving the cold. I hiked the mountain in sneakers made of mesh a windbreaker a few t-shirts and a sweater. Everyone thought I was nuts, but I kept saying, “its ok, I’m Canadian, I’ve waited in lines to get into bars in worse conditions than this”; Big Bucks, you bastards!

On the way up several people were getting tired and wanted to stop or go back. I felt it appropriate to share a childhood memory that might help to add motivation. As a young lad, our hockey coach, Mr. Witrick, would run us through hard drills, especially after a bad loss. If you showed any signs of fatigue he would come over and grab you by the facemask and say, “do you know why they put plastic coating on this face guard? So the puke doesn’t stick to it! Keep going.” I don’t know why I thought of that while climbing a mountain, but it helped get me to the top.

That concludes my three and a half week Christmas holiday. Wow, I’m pooped. I am actually glad to be back at work because I don’t think I can take any more. What a trip.