Can you believe we climbed a mountain?!?

Our last day with FIMAfrica was spent in Nanyuki visiting an HIV Orphanage and HIV Hospice. We exercised our knowledge by giving a lecture on HIV and nutrition which was very well received. The children and patients were so welcoming and treated us like celebrities! It was a great way to end off the experience.

FIMAfrica was such an unbelievable experience - but we had to say goodbye and move onto BIGGER things - like a mountain!

Being in Nanyuki for 3 weeks we were made aware of how close Mount Kenya was. Since we hadn't had any form of exercise since leaving Toronto, we thought it would be a great work-out! Boy, were we in for a treat! Apparently, it is not just a walk in the park.

Since this was a spur of the moment idea we did not have any appropriate gear. We used the Sumar family connections to round up all the winter gear available in Nairobi. Luckily, we knew a guy that knew a guy that "hired" boots and jackets...upon arriving at a tiny shop we realized that our options were limited. All 4 pairs of shoes we had to choose from were at least a men's size 8 (all 3 of us are women's 7) and jackets comprised of "previously used" men's jackets that completed our sexy mountain attire. Thus, we were READY!

Day one. 9 Km to Old Moses.
We met "the boys" in town. The crew consisted of our guide, John, our cook, John and our 3 porters John, James and Robert.
We started "pole pole" (slow, slow) to acclimatize and arrived at our first camp, Old Moses, after a 3 hour trek in the rain. We arrived to a table set complete with table cloth, fresh popcorn, biscuits and hot tea! (the food was plentiful, and shockingly amazing!) The porters had gotten there an hour before us with all of our luggage. They were lean mean climbing machines and beat us everywhere by at least an hour.

Day 2. 14 Km trek to Shiptons Camp.
Left at 8am to endure a 7 hour hike. On this particular day we experienced the ups and downs of the mountain and weather. The day started with the blazing sun (Aliyah regretted her decision to wear snow pants forcing us to stop the bypassing porters for lighter attire). This was followed by rain, wind and finally the sting of hail as we trekked on. It was a long day and we were thrilled to arrive at camp despite the bitter cold. We proceeded to pile on all the clothing we had brought. To the surprise of our crew, being Canadian did not prepare us for the cold we experienced that night. Thus, we invited ourselves into the kitchen with the boys where they had a charcoal fire brewing. It was a great night with laughs, singing, dancing and a little medical education.

Day 2.5. 4 Km CLIMB to point Lenana - Summit.
Awoke at 2:30AM and left at 3AM with our head lamps guiding our way to the top through the night. Unfortunately, Michelle's stomach was still hating Kenya and she started her ascent with severe nausea...not ideal..but she plugged on reluctantly with our guide's insistence that the climb would soon get easier!...turns out that that is a dirty trick!
It was dark, cold, icy and vertical. At this point we began to question our preparedness for the mountain. At points we were light headed and scared but we continued for what seemed like forever...awaiting the sunrise and the summit. When we were within an hour of the summit and the sun began to rise, Michelle picked a spot to rest and decided that this "was it!". This was not an option. Sarah, by sheer willpower went ahead on her own; Aliyah followed with a helping hand from our guide; and Michelle, feeling like death was approaching, brought up the rear with a helping PUSH from James.
Words cannot describe this challenge...we were definitely pushed to our physical limits! In our own ways, we all emotionally and physically conquered point Lenana. What an amazing feeling! We had planned various picture formations and choreographed dances to capture our achievement; however we were frozen and exhausted. We snapped a few goodies and quickly started our descent.

Note this picture above has Aliyah climbing in it!

Day 2.83. 4Km back to Shiptons.
After reaching the peak, we thought the way down would be a piece of cake. Not the case. We learned the hard way that the descent is in fact even trickier than the way up. As the sun came up the snow melted and then turned to ice. It was very steep and we were all falling all over the place. Wearing our rain pants added extra slippage. We thought this was fun and didn't think it could lead to disaster. At one point the three of us slipped at the same time. Sarah, trying to avoid Michelle, veered off to the side out of control. With the steep incline and icy conditions, she could not stop slipping and instead of stopping on the rocks she flew right over them. After 30 meters of this, her back hit a large rock and thankfully stopped her. It was a scary moment for everyone present. After gaining composure, we all slowly and cautiously continued down. We made it back to Shipton's and were relieved to be off of the ice.

Day 3. 14 Km back to Old Moses.
Within half an hour of arriving at Shipton's we were instructed that we had to leave and journey back to Old Moses.
We were in shock, exhausted, and uncertain of the extent of Sarah's injury, however, we were forced to move on. With her strength, optimism, and 2 ski poles, Sarah made it to Old Moses. What a CRAZY AND LONG day!

Day 4. 9 Km back to base.
After finally sleeping 12 hours (sleep was non-existent before this night), we got up and mustered up the courage to put our blistered feet back into our lead boots (side note: Aliyah has never in her life experienced a blister. what a freak). This 2 hour descent was a treat but our bodies were screaming to get off the mountain. We couldn't have been more thrilled to reach the base when we did!

Overall, we climbed a freaking mountain! Mount Kenya is the 2nd highest mountain in Africa (after Kilimanjaro), and the highest mountain in Kenya at 4,985m above sea level. This climb was not only the highlight of our trip but will remain a major highlight in our lives. What we experienced on the mountain will remain with us forever.