Back from family trek on mt kenya, africa (03.01.2014)

First of all l would like to thank Duncan, for being our guide, as he did everything he said he would!
That meant a lot to me as l had my two children's safety to think about.
Day one started at 1:30pm via the Sirimon Gate. After a nice lunch we walked 7km up to Old Moses Camp. (Faster than we should have done)
Day two was tough, 14Kms, climbing from 11,000 feet to Shipton camp site at 15,000 feet. Half way to Shipton camp we came over a ridge and got the most beautiful view of the peaks! We made our way through a valley along side a crystal clear stream and had a picnic lunch a few hours before reaching Shipton Camp site. We got to bed early after a lovely chicken and potato meal, as we prepared ourselves to set off for the peak at 2:40 am using head
torches, there was a completely clear sky and the stars looked amazing!
At that altitude climbing the remaining 1,500 feet up a very steep slope was tough. The thin air means you have to breath really hard, just to put one foot in front of the other, literary one short step at a time.
We reached the point Lenana (4,985m) at 6am in time to see the sunrise over Kenya. The sunlight hits the top of the rocky mountain peak first as you can see in the attached photo.
It was minus 15 on the top and the snow was frozen solid.
We then made our way back down the other side of the mountain beside a glacier to Makinders camp site 7Km away, where we got breakfast. Then we continued our decent for a further 14 Kms to Narumoro River Camp, were we camped for the night.
Its at 10,000 feet, so we had descended almost 7,000 feet since six thirty in the morning.
We were wrecked!
My daughter Amy handled the altitude best and was first to the top, Jordan found it the worst, but they are glad they did it. Its not every day you are on the roof of Africa!
On the final morning we trekked the remaining 9Kms to the Gate of Mt Kenya Reserve where we meet up with the rest of the family and we headed straight for a hot shower!