Day 5: Wild weather and returning to the rainforest

It was early and I could Samson's voice saying "Amy are you inside, are you okay?" followed by him vigorously shaking my tent. This was not the usual gentle peaceful wake up call I had become accustomed to. "I need to untrap you Amy" he said as the shaking continued. I was half awake and unsure what was happening. He began to unzip my tent saying "Look Amy, we ordered a surprise for you - you went to sleep in Kenya and woke up in Canada!" I could hardly believe my eyes as I looked across the landscape, it was blanketed in fresh pristine snow. It was perfect, my dream weather! Samson went to fetch Alex and we played in the snow and took photos together.

This was the day I was supposed to attempt the summit, if we had stuck to the original plan. Alex told me that the technical section is too risky in these conditions, people get lost or slip and there have been fatal accidents in recent years. I felt so relieved and happy that I'd trusted Alex's judgement and achieved my goal yesterday. We drank tea, appreciating the views of the snow. There was only one other team at camp, approaching the summit from this side of the mountain. They were turned back in the early hours of the morning at the technical section as the snow and ice made the rocks treacherous and the visibility was too poor to be able to find the chains and cables.

After breakfast I began the descent with Alex, last night I'd assumed today would be a casual day of descent but clearly Mount Kenya had other ideas. This mountain is raw and wild. Remote and beautiful. Some sections were very slippery underfoot as the snow began to melt over the rocks, so we took our time. The views were stunning snow caps peaks behind us and ahead lush green valleys with lakes at the base. A rescue helicopter circled the summit and I felt incredibly grateful not to be up there and hoped that nothing serious had happened. Alex said some guides will risk it particularly if clients push, but he reassured me that he wouldn't have put me at any risk saying "It's not worth it, the mountain isn't going anywhere."

Eventually we reached the end of the snowline and transitioned into a more verdant landscape. It was clear oxygen levels had increased, as there was a greater density and variety of vegetation. Alex led me off the path to a bench that had foil parcels, a flask and mugs laid put nearly. Samson and Edwin had passed us earlier in the morning and had left this tea and snack station for us. We ate sweet potatoes and hard boiled eggs and drank tea before diverting towards a waterfall. Seen as I was a day ahead of schedule Alex had offered to take me to see things you usually don't have time for. The waterfall was stunning, a powerful flow cascaded down the rocks into a turbulent plunge pool. "Let's go stand near it to feel it" Alex said, leading me down a steep rocky path. We relaxed at the base of the waterfall before continuing our final descent.

The last part of the descent was on an easy going dirt track which rangers can drive on. We passed porters heading up the camp we'd come from and the route was lined with elephant dung, and several plants were upturned as the elephants were harvesting roots. A ranger vehicle passed and spoke to Alex in Swahili, he translated after saying there is a rescue mission from the summit and someone is being carried down where the vehicle will meet them. I couldn't be more grateful for Alex making the most of the weather window and not putting me in danger. We were now in lush rainforest and I could feel the thickness and warmth of the air increasing. The last stretch was easy going and my body was grateful for the increased oxygen. We arrived to camp around 1pm where Samson greeted me with tea, a noodle and vegetable broth and one of Edwin's lovely fruit platters.

A ranger advised it was not safe to camp here due to risk of trampling by elephants or potential buffalo attacks, so I was given a mattress on the floor of a hut to sleep on and advised to "be careful" when going to the toilet at night. It was another varied and adventurous day on this wild African mountain.