Mountain Trip guide Dave Ahrens called in from just over 14,000′ on Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa.
Dave reported that they had a great day yesterday, that began with a 5 a.m. alpine start towards Point Lenana at 16,335′ (pictured below). While Point Lenana is more of a trek than a technical climb, the peak helped them to acclimatize and become more familiar with their surroundings. They reached their high point just in time to watch the sunrise. Mount Killimanjaro, 600 kilometers to the south, is sometimes visible rising above the rest of the horizon, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to catch a glimpse of the iconic peak.
They then tackled the highest Via Ferrata in the world, likely reminding Dave of his day job of guiding the Via Ferrata for visitors to Telluride. Porters then helped Dave and Sole bring all of their gear up to the base of their technical route.
Dave and Sole plan to reach the summit of Batian via the North Face Standard Route, which includes upwards of eight pitches of technical climbing.
(Photo credit: http://sukirgenk.dvrlists.com/mount-kenya.html)
Best of luck to the team in their summit attempt! Here’s Dave with the update:
