Hi!
I wondered if some one knows how looks bouldering in Kenya .It\"s quite difficult finde something about that. I going there on my holiday in January and I dont want stay all the time on the beach .Please contact me.
Thanks Jacek from scotland

There are some pretty impressive boulders in some of the national roads - none of it too technical or documented in roadmaps though

i realise the origional poster has probably already been and gone, but i thought id let u guys know about bouldering in kenya.

on the coast there is very little that ive found. (unless you're prepared to trash ur fingers climing on coral, in that case your sorted). further up the coast near lamu the rock type does improve slightly, but ive never found any resonable size boulders.

alongside the road from mombasa to nairobi there are plenty of small outcrops, some with very easy access. the best before you get close to nairobi is around the voi river, about 200kms from mombasa.

40kms before nairobi is the mountain club of kenya's very own crag, lukenya. around this hill there are currently over 100 documented problems, and im currently writing a guide for the area. (any guide writing tips would be useful)

west from narobi about an hour are the rift valley crags of frog, embaribal and ndeiya. all along the base of the hill at ndeiya are hundreds of problems put up by locals over the last few years.

up on mount kenya the last thing you're probably thinking about is bouldering, but if your keen and have (lots of) surplus energy there are hundreds of good quality granite boulders around. ive only bouldered around mackinders hut (4200m), but i can assure you its worth packin ur shoes, if not a mat. (also a good selection of wire brushes are essential for all but the most trafficked routes)

towards lake victoria around kisumu and kakamega there are thousands of possible problems on good quality granite boulders. smooth featurless rock is the order of the day, slopers abound. population density is very high there, with many locals living within the boulder fields.

there are obviously loads more places i dont know about, so if u find a good one please let me know.

peter

Around Lake Victoria there are thousands of really awesome boulders. Some are HUGE, as big as houses. Like the previous poster said, population density there is very high but the locals there are very friendly.

- twiga

Do any of you guys have any information on what is called the \"Temple Wall\" ... its a 200m or so steep rock face to the north of the mountain?

Nothing on the Temple Wall, but for interest sakes here are two articles on Kenya climbing...

http://www.climb.co.za/article.asp?id=23 &
http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=457

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Mt Kenya is a super Mountain and is well with in reach of most climbers out there! I climbed the south face std route. And despite its chossy appearance its amazingly good rock!! I remember placing a #1 DMM nut and I would’ve been happy to belay a stance on just that 1 piece!! I had 1 set of nuts 1 to 10 DMM and camalots (new ones) .4 .5 .75 1 2 and 3 I didn’t need any bigger… leave the quick draws at home and take 6 to 8 60cm slings. Most (85%) of the gear I placed was more to show my girlfriend the way. There were times when I lead a full 60m pitch with 3 or 4 pieces of gear… The most intensive pitch I did was perhaps 20m with 5 maybe 6 pieces of gear. I did the whole climb in hiking boots, left my rock shoes at the base, only wanted them on 1 pitch, but managed without. Best to get beta from climbers coming down about the ice conditions on the top, as they change from week to week… SLEEP on top (Nelion) especially if your girlfriend is with you the hut can sleep four comfortably, we had -20 bags the temp could have been much less than that but then our bags zip together which is also handy beta… some tat might be handy to help with the return from Batian to Nelion, 2 or 3 meters should do.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO TAKE WITH….. description of the decent!!!! Thank u to the guys who gave their print out to me (early Jan this year)!!! Here it is, its also available on summit post . org. I have edited it to make certain sections more understandable:

ONLY USE ONE 50 OR 60 METER ROPE!!! Or u WIL have to cut them at some point… and don’t forget the knots on the ends.

There are a few key sections on the abseil route where it is important not to lose one's way.

Ab #1: from Howel hut walk towards and rightwards of Austrian hut. Cross the chossy ascent gully at the top of the Nelion Standard Route to a platform on the left. (+/- 20m).
Scramble: Follow the green painted arrow diagonally down to the left to the top of a vertical red face (which u cant see). This steep face is seen about 50m above the De Graafs Variation pitch on the way up. The abseil bolt can only be seen when looking over the edge.

Ab #2 to #6: Five single rope abseils tending slightly rightwards and past the De Graaf's Variation to the loose, blocky rock at the base of Mackinder's Gendarme (below the SE ridge).
Scramble: Back up and over to the SE ridge at Baillie's Bivi.

Ab #7: The bolt is found on a block on the SE ridge 10m or less to the left of Baillies bivi. A 20m abseil straight down reaches a painted green marker on the East Traverse.

Scramble, we used no ropes, a bit scary but do-able, 40 to 50m to the left and down the East Traverse. It’s a long traverse. The next bolt is hidden in a slight recess and is difficult to see from this direction. There may be a cairn and some1 had left a bright cloth there. Follow and trust the direction of the green arrow, or memorise the location of the bolt from the ascent.

Ab #8: Straight down to a big ledge (a short 20m).

Ab #9: Dogleg abseil from the left hand side of the ledge. Go down 5m and left 5m along a ramp (the painted marking is VERY misleading here at 20m).

Ab #10: Straight down another 20m.

Ab #11: Straight down a steep face, followed by a free-hanging abseil over a roof. The abseil ends on an uncomfortably angled slab in an alcove underneath the roof at close to 25m.

Ab #12 to #14: Three more single rope abseils tending slightly leftwards and ending back on the ground about 30m to the right of the Nelion Stardard Route start.

NOTE: Directions (left and right) are described as seen when looking in to the mountain face.

TIME: Allow between two and four hours for the descent, depending on your speed. If you can use 2 ropes and alternate abs on each 1…

Happy to help with more info if required
fanta

the british guys from planet fear came to try some new stuff in the northern frontier district of kenya, and then at the end of their trip had a go and put up the first 2 routes on the temple.

an article of their trip is on the planetfear website with description and topo of the routes.

the temple is located on the chogoria route, and as mentioned is steep and aparently good solid rock.

i might check it out one day.

horse