Climbing “The North Face” is best done in the summer to fall (June – Sept). This is the climbing season because the North Face of the peak is relatively snow-free. It makes the climbing conditions to be at the best.
Itinerary
Pickup from Nairobi is at 0800hrs, driving through rich agricultural land up to Chogoria town for lunch. After lunch, we drive up to the edge of the bamboo forest where we start our trek through the dense bamboo forest for distance of 8 km to the Anabaslodge / Bandas.
We will be served our freshly prepared dinner by 7pm
After breakfast and sorting of porter baggage, we hike up the mountain at a nice and easy pace. The hike to Lake Ellis gives scenic views of Mugi, Ithanguni and the Giant Billiards Table.
We side walk to Mugi hill for the views and acclimatization reasons. All meals will be served in the camp. We retire to our tents for the night.
After breakfast, off the beaten track we follow a ridge up the mountain for about 3 hours to eventually join the tourist track on the normal Chogoria route at an altitude of about 4,100m. There are breath taking views over the Gorges Valley and back over towards Ithanguni and the Northern Moorland.
Lunch is served on the way, before continuing for a further 2 hours to L. Michealson campsite at 4000m and our night rest.
Afternoon is spent relaxing at camp, or just exploring this beautiful spot in the whole of Mt Kenya.
Dinner in the camp.
After breakfast, our trek ascends out of the scenic gorge’s valley. Excellent view of Mt. Kenya peaks gives us more energy to keep going. From Simba Tarn camp, we then descend to Shipton camp (4200m) for lunch. Afternoon spent organizing the climbing gear. Early dinner and rest in the camp.
The real assault of Batian by the North Face Standard Route Day. We will set out early in the morning to the base of the climb. This is usually between 4 and 5am. The first couple of pitches may be done with headlamps.
The route starts to follow a wide couloir which you ascend for 7 pitches. It is never harder than 5.7. A bit little bit of easy scrambling takes us to the Amphitheater. This is a small basin of easy rocky part of the way up. In normal circumstances, we arrive here around 7:30am. We will enjoy a short break. We then get to the crux of the route, Firmin's Tower. There are 3 difficult pitches. They are all fairly short, but they are in the V grade. After this, easier terrain takes us to a few more pitches. We will finally reach the west ridge. From here, we continue on an easy, but still exposed, rock to Shipton's Notch. This is a prominent gash in the summit ridge. One last pitch then mixed with 4th and easy 5th class rock leads to the airy summit of Mount Kenya - Batian!
We will descend via the same route aiming to reach to Shipton's Camp before dark. We enjoy our dinner and overnight stay in the camp. In case of a slow climb, we will spend the night in the Bivoc.
After breakfast, we begin the 5-6hour descend via Mackinder`s valley to the Old Moses / Judmiere camp ( 3,300m). The journey is gentle and it offers ample time to enjoy amazing scenery which includes the peculiar mountain plants. The last dinner is served early before retiring to bed.
After breakfast, we descend for 2 hours to the Sirimon Park gate. We meet our diver and drive to Nanyuki for lunch. After bidding farewell to the supporting crew, drive back to Nairobi arriving by 1800hrs.