Mountaineering Under The Equatorial Sun

24 Dec 00 - 19 Jan 01


Recently, a small group of nine Army Alpine Association (AAA) climbers and trekkers achieved an East African double, summitting on Africa's highest mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895m), and on the rocky spire of Mt Kenya's Nelion Peak (5,188m).

The Ex Ol Boinyo Keri expeditioneers married up in Nairobi, Kenya, on 26 Dec 00. After a day's break there to organise rations, etc, we bussed down to Moshe, Tanzania, at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro. For the benefit of those readers with an appreciation of the real dangers associated with mountaineering expeditions, it was a chartered mini-bus not a public bus!

We all penetrated the rainforest on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro via the demanding Umbwe Route, then split up at the 3,800m mark just below Kili's Barranco Wall. The climbers attempted the still more demanding Western Breach Route while the trekkers carried on up the mountain on the Mweka Route. After a few days spent working our way up the mountain in stages, three of the four climbers climbed up through the Great Western Notch in Kilimanjaro's crater wall on 2 Jan 01. We spent that night camped on the ash of the crater floor adjacent to the 50m high walls of the Furtwangler Glacier, where the temperature plummeted to -20oC shortly after sunset. Our fourth climber developed a mild case of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) at Arrow Glacier (4,800m) and retreated down the mountain at first light on 2 Jan. Early on the morning of 3 Jan, Steve, Mike and Carl ascended a final 250 vertical metres to Kilimanjaro's summit, Uhuru Peak (actually the highest point on the volcano's crater rim), then descended via the Mweka Route and in doing so executed the first AAA traverse of the mountain.

The previous afternoon Mike and Carl had trekked across the floor of Kilimanjaro's main crater, scrambled up onto the rim of the volcano's "Ash Pit" (the Reusch Crater), then climbed down inside it. After clambering downwards past steaming fumaroles, walking across beds of hot sulphur crystals, pumice and ash, and hacking our lungs out on the clouds of sulphur dioxide that the wind periodically sent our way, we finally ventured right up onto the lip of the volcano's innermost crater and had a peek inside. Four of the five trekkers in the team - none of whom had been any higher than Mt Kosciusko (2,228m) before - worked very hard to reach a high point of 5,600m on the Mweka Route on the morning of 3 Jan, by which time they had all developed AMS symptoms.

Wisely deciding that discretion was the better part of valour in this case they retreated back down the mountain. The climbers caught up with them later that morning as they descended the Mweka Route in the trekkers' wake.

After descending Kili and overnighting in Moshe, the whole team moved back to Nairobi, had a day's rest, collected a resupply of rations and the climbers' rock climbing gear, checked their email, had a couple of huge feeds and then headed off to Mt Kenya.Over a period of several days and in very marginal weather (it snowed and rained pretty much all day, every day), the expedition's trekkers circumnavigated Mt Kenya at an average altitude of about 4,000m and, together with the climbers, scrambled to the summit of Point Lenana (4,985m).

After a couple of days of poor weather, and with no prospect of a change, the climbers decided to have a go at Mt Kenya's summit, Batian Peak (5,199m), via its sister peak, Nelion (5,188m). Predictably, on the day of the climb the weather had deteriorated by mid-morning, leaving us to soldier on in the rain and snow that persisted for the remainder of the day. The climb began very well with two strong leads by Anthony and myself in the "Rabbit Hole" and "Mackinder's Chimney", respectively. Both pitches are about Australian (rock) Grade 17 and were led in walking boots, on wet rock, at altitude, during a snowstorm! Later in the day very heavy cloud and mist reduced visibility to about 20m and caused some navigation problems. The pace of the climb slowed significantly for a time, with the result that we were benighted and had to complete the last three pitches of the climb by headlamp-light. After a 12 hour 'epic', the climbing team finally summitted on Nelion in the dark, then bivouacked amongst the peak's summit rocks for the night.

Dawn brought clear skies and wonderful views; however, it had snowed again during the night and the couple of centimetres of fresh, unconsolidated snow lying on the rocks had made the traverse through the "Gates of the Mist" out to Batian very dangerous. Expecting (correctly) to lose the good weather by mid-morning yet again, I decided to abandon the attempt on Batian and descend.

After a day's break and with a spell of good weather at last, several of the team climbed to the summit of Mt Kenya's Point John (4,883m).

Finally, all members of the expedition descended the mountain by the Naro Moru Route, returned to Nairobi, stuffed themselves again (beer, pizza and cheesecake at the Thorn Tree Caf? and then dispersed to various destinations from there.

I thought that the expedition was particularly successful from a team building point of view. We had a very diverse group. I should also mention here our two Kenyan contacts, Josiah and Michael. Four of the seven ADF personnel on the expedition were reservists. The oldest member of the expedition was in his early fifties and the youngest member was in his early twenties. It was great to have the 'youngsters' from 21 Construction Regiment on the trip. They did it pretty hard initially, but persevered, learned a lot and enjoyed themselves - eventually!

The only disappointing aspect of the expedition was the small number of people who participated in it. Everybody who applied for a place on the expedition and met the selection criteria was accepted. I was prepared to accommodate as many as 12 climbers and 24 trekkers! Where were you all?