Equipment for Mt Kenya

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hi will, thank you first for all information you allready sent to me. know i have another question about climbing gear. as we had some problems with our airline to take all our equipment with us (itīs to heavy) we are looking for some other possibilities. is there a possibility to buy or to rent climbing gear in nairobi. do you know how much it is and what conditions. or is there a possibility to sent our gear via ship freight to nairobi? and last but not least we are looking for a cheap accomodation four 4 persons in nairobi for about 2 days in the beginning of september. it should be near a supermarket where we can buy the rest. (gas, food). thx a lot if you can help me. hopefully we will met in nairobi. christian

-- Christian Lugschitz (c.lugschitz@aon.at), June 13, 2002

Answers

Christian No problem with the information, I'll be posting these communications on the MCK website so other people can get the information. Equipment There are very few possibilities to rent climbing equipment in Kenya, The club doesn't really have anything useful for the Mt Kenya. You could try one the companies Tropical Ice (see website, should be good stuff but expensive) or GK tours based in Naro Moru (don't know the quality of equipment, probably expensive too). I guess you could airfreight it, though there might be admin problems on this side with the Kenyan customs people. The easiest thing would be to find an airline that's got a large luggage allowance. Brussels air (former Sabena), I think have an allowance of 40kg. Or think about how much gear you need and rationalise. You only need an alpine rack on most of the routes unless you're planning one of the really tricky routes with aid work. Ice gear should be minimal or not at all. Unless doing an ice route, you only need an axe for crossing the Lewis glacier, (there are ways to bypass that) and crossing the gates of the mist (I did it in soft trainers and one technical axe, though not recommended, boots would have made it easier). Places to stay in Nairobi: Camping; Upper hill campsite is pleasant and not far from a Super Market. Others: Try the Swedish School Telephone: +254 - 2 - 566 544 they have rooms at a very good price and near a Super Market. Aero Club in Wilson airport, nr the Mountain Club. Look in the Lonely planet G/book. Hope that helps. Will

-- Will Frost (w.frost@cgiar.org), June 13, 2002.

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