BATUK team overcomes Mt Kenya

A team of Gurkhas from BATUK has successfully completed an expedition to scale Mt Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa, after Kilimanjaro.

Their climb started at Sirimon Gate at an altitude of 2500 metres above sea level, with the first stop 800 metres higher up at Old Moses camp.

There was then a 14 km hike to reach the Shipton Lodge (Base camp) which was completed in good time. An early start at 0200 the following morning saw the team undertake a three hour uphill climb to view sun rise.

“Even though the air was thin and a difficulty of altitude effects, the view of the panoramic landscape and sunrise from near 5000m was spectacular and was a once in a lifetime experience,” said Cpl Gurung, RLC 2nd line BATUK.

Cpl Gurung said that the the next challenging part was climbing down, which involved a steep downhill to Shipton Lodge, something done with relish to diminish the altitude effects.

It was : “A tough challenge to overcome both physiologically and physically but an exceptional effort and feeling held by the group.”