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DAYS

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POINT LENANA

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SPOTS

€850

PER ATHLETE

The traverse

Day-by-day.

Four days on the mountain.

01 Day 1 · Sirimon ascent Acclimatization hike 2,642 m → 3,365 m · 9 km · 4–5 h

Two trekkers with poles at the Old Moses Camp signboard on open moorland

Sirimon Gate to Old Moses Hut. Forest track gives way to moorland as the trail climbs from 2,642 m to 3,365 m. The pace is deliberately slow — Day 1 is acclimatization, not distance.

02 Day 2 · Acclimatisation High-altitude trek 3,365 m → 4,248 m · 14 km · 6–8 h

Trekkers walking up through giant groundsel on open moorland below the snow-dusted peaks

Old Moses Hut to Shipton Camp. Open moorland through Mackinder's Valley. Thinner air, slower legs. The summit ridge becomes visible by mid-afternoon.

03 Day 3 · Summit push (03:00 start) Summit Day · Point Lenana 4,985 m 4,248 m → 4,985 m → 3,327 m

Trekkers on the rocky summit ground of Point Lenana at sunrise, 4,985 metres, tarns and ridges below

03:00 start from Shipton Camp by headlamp. 06:30 sunrise summit at Point Lenana, 4,985 m. Descend to Lake Ellis tarn and camp.

04 Day 4 · The descent Lake Ellis to Chogoria Gate 3,327 m → 1,737 m · 1,590 m of descent

Out of the park on foot: east from Lake Ellis through high moorland and indigenous forest to Chogoria Gate, roughly 1,600 metres of descent. Walk it, or run it. Water and an aid station at the Bandas on the way down. Full detail below.

Kĩrĩnyaga

The mountain thatnamed a country.

Kenya takes its name from this mountain. The Kikuyu call it Kĩrĩnyaga, the mountain of brightness, and hold it to be the earthly home of Ngai. The Kamba say Ki Nyaa, the Embu Kirinyaa, the Meru Kĩrĩmaara. Johann Ludwig Krapf was the first European to report it, in 1849, and the spelling that came back off those maps was Kenia. The country most likely took its own name from there.

In the Kikuyu account Ngai took Gikuyu to the summit to show him the land below, and told him to turn toward the mountain in times of need. Kikuyu homes are built with the doorway facing it, and in a drought people still turn that way. You will be walking over somebody else’s sacred ground, which is worth knowing before you set off.

Walk in 2,642m Sirimon Gate Day 1. The dry western side.
→
High point 4,985m Point Lenana Day 3, at first light.
→
Walk out 1,737m Chogoria Gate Day 4. Forest the whole way down.

The last day is forest.

Day 4 goes east, out of the moorland and into indigenous forest where elephant, bongo and Colobus monkey live. The side you walked in on is dry. This one is not. It is about 1,600 m down to Chogoria Gate.

Anyone who wants a harder day may run it instead, roughly 36 km, downhill the whole way. Nothing is timed and nobody is watching the clock. Most people walk, and walking is not the lesser option. If you do mean to run it, do long downhill efforts in training first and bring shoes you have already descended in.

A volcano worn down to its core.

Mount Kenya stood about 6,500 m when it formed, between 3.1 and 2.6 million years ago. Erosion has taken roughly 1,300 m off the top since. What is left standing is the hard plug from the centre of the volcano, which is why the peaks rear up so sharply out of several days of gentle moorland.

Those peaks are a rock climb. Batian, the true summit at 5,199 m, and Nelion at 5,188 m are technical ground. Point Lenana at 4,985 m is the trekking summit, and it is the one you stand on.

UNESCO lists the mountain and its forest as a World Heritage Site and describes a climate of “summer every day and winter every night”. Day 3 is exactly that: a start in the dark and the cold, and sun over the plains by the time you reach the top. Eleven glaciers are left up there, all of them retreating, within a few kilometres of the equator. The moorland you cross to reach them grows giant groundsels and lobelias that grow nowhere else on earth.

Height when it formed 6,500m
Glaciers left 11
World Heritage since 1997

Support

There is always someone ahead of you and someone behind you.

A lead ranger sets the front. Nobody passes the lead ranger, walking or running. KWS handles all wildlife management inside Mount Kenya National Park.
A sweep team walks behind the last athlete. Whoever is slowest on the day still has the mountain team behind them.
Radios at the front, at the Bandas and with the sweep. A head count at each. The lead guide and the medic decide the day.
Water and an aid station at the Bandas, 2,981 m. Staffed until the last athlete is through.
A turnaround time, set on the day. The lead guide fixes it so that nobody is still in the forest after dark.
A medic at the gate. Helicopter evacuation on call through rescue.co for all four days.

The route

Sirimon to Chogoria, west to east.

The aubergine line traces Days 1 to 3 (Sirimon Gate → Point Lenana → Lake Ellis). The lilac line is the Day 4 descent from Lake Ellis down through the Chogoria forest to the gate. The short dashed lilac spur joins the main trail to the Lake Ellis pin.

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WILDLIFE

The mountain we share.

Sirimon's and Chogoria's forests on Mount Kenya give way to alpine moorland. Bongo, elephant, rock hyraxes, zebra, and countless others live below the snowline.

Mountain Bongo

Critically endangered. Mount Kenya is one of the few places left in the wild.

African Elephant

Herds graze the forests and the plains on the Sirimon and Chogoria sides of Mount Kenya.

Zebras grazing on open grassland with the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya behind

Grevy's Zebra

The northern slopes meet Samburu — where the zebras of two species mix.

Rock Hyrax

The mountain's closest relative to the elephant — found on the rocks above Shipton Camp.

Golden-breasted Starling

One of East Africa's most colourful birds, found on the lower slopes.

Malachite Sunbird

Iridescent green at altitude — feeds on the giant lobelia that lines the trails.

Safety + logistics

How the mountain is run.

Aid stations. Water points at set intervals on the Day 4 descent. Water only. Open until the last athlete is through.
Nothing is timed. No result sheet, and no summit turnaround fixed in advance. The one time that exists is the latest departure from the Bandas on Day 4, set on the day by the lead guide so that nobody is in the forest after dark.
Front and back. A lead ranger nobody passes and a sweep team behind the last athlete, with water and an aid station at the Bandas on the way down.
Bail-out. Helicopter extraction available via rescue.co supplemental insurance. You come off the mountain with a guide, never on your own.
Staff ratio. Approximately 3 staff (porters, guides, medic) per participant.
Licensing. All guides KWS- and KMGA-licensed.

What to bring

Gear, in short.

A full packing list ships in the post-signup briefing. The headlines:

Boots. Broken-in. Waterproof. Above the ankle. Days 1 to 3, and Day 4 if you are walking the descent.
Trail shoes. Only if you are running Day 4, and only a pair you have already done long downhill runs in. Do not run the descent in boots.
Trekking poles. Strongly recommended for anyone walking Day 4. Available to rent.
Layers. Base + mid + insulated + shell. Temperature swings 5 °C to 25 °C on the same day.
Sleeping bag. Rated to −10 °C comfort for Shipton (4,248 m) and Lake Ellis tents.
Headlamp. Plus spare batteries. The 03:00 summit departure is in the dark.
Sun protection. Glacier-rated sunglasses, SPF 50, brimmed hat.