On God's Mountain

This post about their recent trip up Mt. Kenya is taken from Andrew, Stephen, and Jason's blog.

Habarigani! We hope this blog posts find you all joyful and delighted in the Kingdom work of our amazing God wherever you are.  Over Easter weekend, we were hired by a wonderful group of people to take them up the Siromon route to the Lenana peak of Mt Kenya. There were thirteen total people in our group.  We left Nairobi on good Friday arriving at the gate that afternoon. We met with our porters, had a quick lunch, and started our hike to the first camp called Old Moses. This was a nice hike through some scattered showers that provided us with some acclimatization and the inevitable soreness that comes with climbing a mountain like Mt Kenya. We arrived a couple hours later to a nice spread of Kenyan tea, or Chai, and several cookies put out by the porters. The local children like to come to the road when you pass by and ask for these cookies screaming, “BISQUITS BISQUITS!”  The next day would be a long day as we hiked several miles through the ever changing and diverse landscape unique to Mt Kenya. We arrived at Shipton’s camp that afternoon thoroughly spent but excited about the new view we then had of the amazing peaks towering over the valley camp. We would get an early dinner and try to get to sleep early for the summit day to follow.

Jason enjoys a little frisbee with one of the guys.

 In order to reach the peak for what would be an Easter morning sunrise we had to wake up at 2:30 am and start climbing at 3:00 am. We looked up as we started walking to see the steep mountainside covered in a fresh layer of snow! This occurrence of snow is always amazing considering Mt Kenya is literally split in half by the equator. The hike was challenging for us all as the snow made it quite difficult to step confidently for those without the proper shoes. It is also hard because of the steepness of the climb where we would gain nearly 3000 ft in elevation over a few short hours. We are proud to say that everyone made it to the peak at 16,600 ft that Easter morning. The sunrise was indescribably beautiful and the view was so amazing and clear we could even sporadically see Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania when clouds would pass. 

Easter Sunday Sunrise!

Andrew and his brother Micah at the Summit

Stephen enjoys the view

The wind and snow would force us to start our decent perhaps a little quicker than what we wanted. However, the decent would prove to be perhaps the highlight of our trip. The snow combined with the loose gravel made the ascent quite difficult but made the perfect mixture for an incredibly thrilling and fast way down. What took us almost four hours to climb took less than thirty minutes to get down. We quickly found that certain slopes provided us the opportunity to literally ski, or skri, down the mountain with relative ease and much excitement. We would all find ourselves in a controlled slide of alternating feet accompanied by child-like giggling and laughter. We would all tell our own recollection of the morning over a wonderful breakfast in the shadow of the peaks back at camp. Once again we reluctantly left the peaks behind to head back to Old Moses where we would stay another night. Everyone had their best night of sleep that night and spirits were high as we made the final stroll back to the gate that next morning. 

Celebrating the final steps

The three of us would be remiss if we tried to explain any of the many wonderful conversations we were blessed to have with all those on the trip. Needless to say, the best part for us was these conversations and sharing of life together in what we find to be a profoundly influential environment. We are forever thankful and in awe of God’s creation and the opportunity to delight in it alongside his people. Each individual relationship we have with every person on the trip was changed and amplified in the shadow of what the Kikuyu tribe refers to as, “God’s Mountain.” It was truly a blessing to spend Easter weekend on the mountain with these people. To watch the sunrise in a glorious example of the rising of our Lord, Jesus Christ. To take delight in the glory of God to all peoples now and forevermore. He has risen!

(All of the pictures were taken by Andrew's brother Micah, thanks for letting us use them!)