The first part of the Kilts 2 Kenya African 3 Peaks challenge has been successfully completed! We summitted Margherita Peak (5,109m) on Mount Stanley at around 11.30 a.m. on Monday 20th October after a 5 and a half hour climb from Elena Hut (4,540m).

However, the first part of our challenge did not go all according to plan. Ally Maclay had to descend after a day and a half because he was feeling unwell, leaving two of us to continue the challenge.....

Day 1:

This was the last day of my secondment at Kenya Children’s Home, but despite being scheduled for a rest day I had to go in to the office to hand over to the next secondee from HBOS. However, it proved to be an incredibly busy day, because we still hadn’t booked transport to Uganda, because we were waiting until the price of the flight with Air Uganda to fall to an affordable level. Although this was a gamble, it paid off because we saved $150 in total by booking on the day. However, I then had to go into the Booking Office in central Nairobi to pay for the flights. I also had to meet our guide for Mt. Kenya to pay our deposit prior to leaving for Uganda. And of course, I had to pack my kit. The flight was leaving at 8pm and so we had to be at the airport by 6, and after a mad rush we got there in one piece and made the flight with time to spare.

We were sporting our matching Mountain Equipment t-shirts provided by our main kit sponsor and thought it would be worth trying to blag an upgrade. Remarkably, Ally’s persistence paid off and so we sat in Business Class for the 1-hour flight to Entebbe Airport and dined in style (although they didn’t extend their generosity to wine or beer).

On arrival at Entebbe we exchanged some money for Ugandan Shillings and picked up a cab outside the airport to take us into our hotel in Kampala. During the journey, the driver offered to drive us to Kasese in south-west Uganda the following day for $175. Our original plan was to get dropped at the bus station in the morning and find the first bus going to Kasese. However, we were not happy about the security of our kit so we decided that private transport was a much better (and faster) option. When we arrived in central Kampala at about 9 p.m. we felt unnerved by the crowd of people on the street. From the outside, the Speke Tourist Hotel looked like a dive. Luckily, a security guard appeared at the narrow entrance and escorted us upstairs, where the accommodation was basic, but clean enough.

We checked our kit and spent the night tossing and turning and bathed in sweat in the humid African heat....

Day 2:

We dined early on eggs and toast and remarkably the taxi driver appeared exactly on time. We set off on the long drive armed with chocolate and Pringles. The road was initially OK but about 20 minutes outside Kampala it became very badly pot-holed and slowed us right down as our driver had to constantly swerve to avoid the crumbling sections and the oncoming traffic.

We spent a long, hot 6 hours in the taxi until we reached Fort Portal, where the Rwenzori Mountains first appeared on the horizon. As expected, they were almost always enshrouded in cloud. October is the wettest month in the Rwenzoris, which are renowned for the amount of precipitation, which accounts for the existence of several outlandish giant flower species growing on the slopes.

We arrived in Kasese where we eventually located the HQ of Rwenzori Mountainerring Services, who are a community-based organisation that have the sole concession to guide in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park. I had negotiated a discount on the standard package as we were raising funds for the children’s home, which cut our costs again. We stocked up on over-priced food at the local ‘supermarket’ and transferred to a 4x4 for the half-hour drive to Nyakalengija, where our hotel was located.

We were the only guests in the single-story complex and they clearly weren’t prepared for our arrival, so much so that we had to wait 2 hours after ordering chicken curry for dinner for it to be prepared. By this stage, Ally was feeling run down and went to bed very early. It rained heavily that night, which was a foretaste of things to come.

Day 3:

We were up early for eggs on toast, which appeared at 07:30 on the dot. Our transport arrived on cue, and we commented on how things just appeared to be going far too well. We had expected some admin issues because we hadn’t really set anything on stone in order to maintain flexibility. For example, although we had now planned and agreed our Mount Kenya trip, nothing had been arranged for Kilimanjaro as I was still trying to obtain discounted park fees. In fact, during the taxi journey to Kasese, I had received an email confirming that a kind lodge owner in Arusha would give us 2 nights free B&B accommodation to help support our fundraising efforts (L’Oasis Lodge). Many thanks to Steve Broadbent for his support.

We transferred to RMS HQ to have our kit weighed and meet our guides. The National Park rules state that guides (and porters) must be taken and there was no way round this. But given the amount of kit we had (crampons, rope, technical gear, ice axes etc) we were grateful to share the load, although we all still carried big packs. We were also going to cook for ourselves, rather than employ a local cook, because we wanted to be as independent as possible. We were told we had to take 2 guides; one was older and had been guiding for 20 years, while the other was younger but had better English.

We set off ahead of the porters (we had been given 6 in total) and soon entered the National Park and the thick equatorial montane forest. The path was already hard going, with very thick foliage on either side and steep drops down to the raging torrent of a river below. We crossed a couple of wooden bridges and began ascending through the forest. It was incredibly hot and we were all sweating profucsely as we worked our way uphill. Ally was already feeling weak and at our first rest stop after an hour or so he lay down to recover. Iain Mackay, the third member of the expedition, and a Major in the Parachute Regiment, checked Ally’s resting pulse, which at 120 was worryingly high. Clearly, he was suffering from something, but after a rest and some food and water, we continued through the sweltering forest. The path steepened and we started to slow our pace. Ally had to stop several times to catch his breath. Eventually we reached the first hut at Nyabitaba after around 4 ½ hours of tough trekking.

Ally immediately climbed into his sleeping bag to recover while Iain and I prepared dinner. There were a couple of young Americans at the hut who were descending, having climbed Mount Stanley, and they tried their best to tell us how horrendous the bogs were further up, but we thought we knew better.....

Day 4:

By next morning, Ally was feeling better and managed to eat some porridge for breakfast. He was determined to shake off whatever was affecting him. We set off again early for the trek to John Matte Hut (3,500m). We knew that there would be some boggy ground later on courtesy of the Americans, but strode off with confidence. Initially, we descended of the ridge to the confluence of the Mobuku-Bujuku rivers, where we crossed a wire bridge that had partially collapsed. On our ascent through the forest we spotted a troop of black monkeys. We enquired with the guides what species they were and were told they were ‘black’ monkeys. This did not fill us with confidence about their scientific knowledge...

About an hour later, after we had passed through the bamboo zone, Ally had started to feel very weak again and we made the difficult decision that he should descend. The older guide also felt unwell and so he descended with Ally, along with one of the porters to help with his kit. We hoped that he would be OK and the plan was that he would get back to Nairobi as soon as he could and to seek medical help along the way.

Iain and I continued with 4 porters and one guide and felt sorry that after all his hard work preparing for the trip that he wouldn’t be able to make the first summit. But hopefully, he would have time to recover back in Nairobi for the attempt on Mount Kenya.

The next section of the trail proved very difficult as we started to encounter the first proper boggy sections. On some parts of these, branches or logs had been laid to try to make it easier for trekkers, but these were also sodden and much time was spent carefully placing our feet. The water had nowhere to drain and a false step could lead to a knee-deep boggy mess. In fact, for the remainder of our time on the trail, we became both mentally and physically exhausted by the end of each day due to the concentration and effort involved in making sure that every step was spotted early.

We eventually reached the John Matte Hut after 5 ½ hours of frustratingly slow progress. The only benefit of this slow progress was that we were not rushing up the mountain and so were steadily acclimatising.

We made our first fresh food tonight, having eaten freeze-dried food the previous night. We were sharing a stove with the porters, who seemed to forget that we were the paying clients and so they made sure that they had a hot brew before we did.

We settled down for a cold night, with only a bold mouse for company. We knew from reading the National Park log book that we were the only people on the mountains now, other than a Belgian couple who were just finishing by now.

Day 5:

Immediately after crossing the river near John Matte hut, we started crossing Lower Bigo Bog. Luckily for us, a wooden walkway had recently been completed over the bog, suspended on sections of large plastic pipe. This ran for about 700m and made progress simple. After our experiences on shorter sections of bog yesterday we were happy for this respite. We reached Bigo Hut, which was only now used for emergency shelter, before starting a steep climb through the forest again. We left behind the giant Lobelias and Groundsels that gave the mountains an outlandish appearance and were soon in thick, lush forest again. Our goal today was Bujuku Hut (3,900m). The Afro-Alpine forest had a very pre-historic look with ferns and giant heather dominating the landscape. However, the higher we ascended the more we became aware that despite the amazingly lush landscape, there was very little wildlife. Although the lower slopes of the Rwenzoris are rich in birdlfe, the forest was almost silent further up.

After following the uneven and very wet path for about an hour, we dropped into the Upper Bigo Bog, which was essentially a boggy valley. Previously, a wooden walkway had made this section as easy as the lower Bigo Bog, but this had disintegrated in the erosive conditions and so our guide tried his best to find the best route through the bog. The bog was dotted with giant tussocks of grass and we spent a lot of time and energy jumping from tussock to tussock. Often, we had to take our chances when the tussocks were too far apart and just wade in. Remarkably, neither of us had any really spectacular moments and we only got covered up to our knees in mud. I had the thought in the back of my mind that once we were through this section the trekking would get easier as the 2 main bogs would have been tackled.

We finally reached the end of the Bigo Bog and started round the shore of Lake Bukuku. The next hut was at the far end of the lake. Although the guidebooks described the lake as beautiful and scenic, to us it was a dark and brooding presence. During the drier months, apparently the lake dries out and you can walk along the bed, but now the whole lakeside was waterlogged and the going was painfully slow. In fact, it proved more difficult than the Bigo bog itself, and it was with great relief that we reached Bujuku Hut just as the rain started to fall.

By now we were soaked through and we knew that at this altitude our wet kit wouldn’t dry properly, which depressed our mood. The dreary weather didn’t help, although when the clouds did part briefly we managed to get a glimpse of the impressive cliffs of Mount Baker at the bottom of the Bujuku Valley.

Our guide told us that tomorrow would again start through the bog on the steep climb up to Elena Hut, form where we would make our attempt on the summit of Mount Stanley.

Day 6:

The guide wasn’t lying. Neither of us could believe that a bog could exist on such a steep hillside, but because the water had nowhere to drain it stayed on the hillside, creating a cloying, sticky, boggy mess. The steeper rocky sections had aluminium ladders in pace to help reduce the danger, but we spent 2 hours traipsing up through this terrain before we finally reached slightly drier ground higher up. We were amazed that the tree-line rose above 4,000m but such is the level of rainfall that the rich flora is supported year round.

We were very grateful to at last be on rocky ground. By now, we were really feeling the effects of the altitude and our breathing had become laboured and our progress was slow. We had both had a headache on the final boggy section the previous day en route to the Bujuku Hut but had both felt fine by late evening. After Ally’s early departure, we were very conscious that we had to make sure we recognised any symptoms of altitude sickness. In fact, another of our porters descended from Bujuku Hut as were leaving because he was feeling unwell. A sign in both John Matte Hut and Bujuku Hut informed us that in the last 5 years there had been 2 fatal cases of pulmonary oedema where people had ignored their symptoms and continued to a higher hut. Sending Ally down had definitely been the right decision, given his condition and the subsequent terrain. Rescuing someone from the higher huts would be incredibly time-consuming and difficult as no rescue helicopters were available, the remoteness of the mountains and the challenging terrain.

Above the tree-line, the path passed through a notch in the ridge and then led across a rocky plateau to Elena Hut (4,540m). As we approached it in the mist, we noted that the rocks were extremely slippy and mossy. The whole pace had a desolate feel and the 2 small huts were cramped, wet and cold. By now, we both had headaches again but felt confident that with food and a good sleep that we would both be in good shape.

The plan was to get up at 4 a.m. the next morning and if the weather was clear to set off at 5. If the weather continued to be poor we would wait until 6 so that the guide could spot the small cairns that marked the route.

I went straight into my sleeping bag to fight off the effects of the cold and dozed for a few hours. We then cooked a hearty meal of pasta and were in our sleeping bags by 8 p.m. I was feeling very nervous because I wasn’t sure exactly what we would encounter tomorrow and our boots were soaked through. I wanted to enjoy the experience tomorrow and not have any dramas with cold feet.

Day 7:

When we awoke at 4 a.m. the cloud was so thick that visibility was only about 10 feet. We settled back into our bags and then were back up at 5 to have a hot breakfast. We were now ready to go. The first part of the route by headtorch ascended some steep, rocky gullies and then moved across rock slabs. In our view, this was incredibly dangerous in the conditions and we decided that we would abseil these sections on descent. The guide seemed unconcerned for our safety, and we began to have serious concerns about his safety or technical skills. Incredibly, at Bujuku Hut 2 days before, he had asked me whether Iain had made his rope himself!?

After the initial rocky slabs, we reached the edge of the Stanley Plateau and traversed the glacier to the rocks at the foot of the Elena Glacier. There was an interesting traverse at this point, where the guide placed no protection and relied on a body belay to get us ‘safely’ across. Iain was not happy with this and placed a couple of anchors on the way across, before we descended down an aluminium ladder onto the Elena Glacier.

We began a slow ascent up the steep glacier. Our guide was stopping every 40 steps or so to draw breath, and although I was tired I was still feeling strong. After heading upwards through the mist for another hour or so we skirted past a couple of big crevasses and then all of a sudden we were at the start of the final rocky ascent.

There were fixed ropes in place, but given the conditions they were exposed to they were not to be trusted and Iain made sure that we were safely roped up (as we had been on the glacier) as we started the ascent. Our guide was first up, followed by Iain and then finally me. Iain noted that the guide was not belaying safely and made his feelings known but this had little effect on the guide, who seemed constantly oblivious to any danger on an exposed rocky step. We then traversed for a short time before making the final 20 metre scramble towards the summit. I watched as Iain stepped up and felt a sudden sense of elation that we had made it. As we stood on the summit, the weather very briefly let up and the clouds parted. We were able to gaze over the mighty Congo rainforest and had incredible views of the subsidiary Stanley peaks and the other Rwenzori peaks before the clouds just as quickly closed over again. We were super lucky to get this view. We were standing on the 3rd highest summit in Africa (300m higher than Mont Blanc) and although we felt sorry that Ally couldn’t be there we felt that he had tried his best but had sensibly descended.

Our own thoughts turned very quickly to descent. It was very cold at the summit and we knew that descending is often the most dangerous part of any climb, especially with an incompetent guide. We began the long descent to Elena down the Glacier and across the plateau. We abseiled the last couple of sections towards the hut, which slowed us down but kept us safe.

We eventually reached the hut at 2 p.m., 8 hours after setting off. We had decided by this point, despite being exhausted, that we should get off the mountain as quickly as possible, The conditions had been horrendous and we knew that if we could descend to John Matte hut that day that we could be off the mountains the following day, 1 day ahead of schedule. This would allow us to get back to Nairobi and sort our kit, which was by now in a horrible state. We also wanted to get off to make sure that Ally was OK and so we set off again at 3p.m. with the aim of descending from 4,540m to 3,500m. We trudged down the rocky path back into the hillside bogs. We just put our heads down and kept on going with the sole aim of getting to that hut. We re-crossed the Upper Bigo Bog with great difficulty. By now, we had no energy to jump from tussock to tussock and had long given up hope of staying dry and so ploughed through the bog, covered in mud. The path down through the forest seemd interminable and we eventually trudged out at Lower Bigo Bog as dusk fell. We quickly traversed the walkway and crossed the river towards John Matte in the dark. We wearily entered the hut and dropped our kit after a 13 hour day. We had ascended 600m to the summit and then descended 1,500m during the day across horrendous terrain, but were glad that we would be off the mountain tomorrow.

Day 8:

We set off with aching limbs at 9 a.m. and headed to Nyabitaba Hut, which we reached in 3 ½ hours. Our thoughts were now focused on getting off the mountains and getting in touch with Ally, and we charged down the last section, slippery as it was, and reached Nyakalengija at 2 p.m. We were able to make contact with Ally, who had met a Belgian couple on his descent. He had travelled with them to overnight at Fort Portal at a lodge and they had then driven him straight to Kamapala. He went to a private hospital (courtesy of BUPA) and was able to change his flight that night to arrive back in Nairobi. He was diagnosed with a viral infection and told to rest. Back in Nairobi, he had been invited to travel to Malawi with a Director of the Children’s Home from Scotland. He flew by private jet to Malawi to visit a bank that was receiving training from Bank of Scotland staff on microfinance.

When Iain and I arrived back in Nairobi last night at 9pm (22nd October) he was feeling rather better and we’re just making our final preparations before heading off early tomorrow to start the ascent of Mount Kenya. Our experience on Mount Stanley has made us wary of the technical guide that we will employ, so if we decide that we will not be safe, we will not hesitate to descend from the technical route.

That’s all for now.

This article was posted on 24-Oct-2008, 16:38 by Hugh Barrow.