Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens relayed a message from his deLorme GPS device this morning that they had successfully reached the summit of Batian on Mount Kenya and are now heading down the route using a series of rappels. The precipitous peak of Batain stands at 16,355′, is the highest of Mount Kenya’s summits, and the second highest point in Africa.

As previously mentioned, the team summited via the North Face Standard Route, which features eight pitches of fairly difficult, technical alpine climbing, rated at around 5.8. The team has been quite lucky with clear and relatively warm weather throughout the trip.

CONGRATS TO DAVE AND SOLE!

We wish them a fun rest of their trip and an enjoyable hike back to the lowlands. We’ll post more official audio updates and photos as we receive them.

Update:  They made it back to camp safely and are going to enjoy a well deserved rest after 15 hours and 21 pitches of climbing!