Mt Speke

We climbed our first peak, 4890 meter Mt. Speke on the 8th of February. The most climbed route and mountain in the area was first ascended by Eric Shipton and H.W. Tilman, two of the most prolific late-in-coming mountain explorers we've seen. Tilman's first book, Snow on the Equator, begins in 1919. I would guess they were of an age that went to WW1 right out of school.
In 1919, they found themselves in Africa, I believe starting up coffee plantations. After a series of adventures (one being the finest mountain expedition, ever, to one of the world's most beautiful peaks, Nanda Devi), they found them selves on Everest in 1936. Again, a small team, traveling light, taking on a big dragon. Eric Shipton was on the very short list of leaders for the 1953 Mount Everest Expedition. The one that made the first ascent, and put Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on top.

I had high hopes for a Shipton/ Tilman route.

We left in dry weather at 5AM and walked for about an hour to Stihlman Pass. Just before the pass we cut off towards our route. The big mountains in the Ruwenzori are massive conglomeration of summits. They are like a spiked hairdo. All the peaks coming off the top of the mass that makes up the mountain. For this reason, traverses are appealing, if you can figure out the wetland trails. The big peaks are Baker, Speke and Stanley. The highest being a summit of Stanley, Mt. Margherita. How it got that name, I don't know, but I'll still drink to that.

There is a vast gulf in styles of guiding and protecting your client as we travel around the world. The Russians, on big mountains, like to act like sheep herders. European guides maintain low client to guide ratios of 2:1 or less. And they go like hell. American guiding tries to get the numbers up a bit (to cut costs for the clients) and we cater to the client more. We will walk with our clients. Euros meet you at the hut. We walk slowly. Euros don't have a low gear. Euros are in mountains that are often more dangerous. Euros trips can be done out of nice cute backpacks. Americans are often out for weeks, pulling sleds and carrying a pack that would have made John Henry eat a couple of extra flapjacks for breakfast....

I certainly was expecting to see plenty of differences in guide styles in the Ruwenzori. It is a remote, rarely visited area. Most of the visitors would, I expect, be pretty avid adventurous, high-skills types. An what I found is pretty true to my guess.

We started off with a bang. Vittorio happened to be carrying the rope. He, from the top of a 100' plus rock step, was hoping we would scramble up a rock slab. Easy enough, but I am not risking someone's neck on an inconvenience. The rope is... let's just say up above. Vittorio hoped we would batman up, using the thin climbing rope I had brought, as a hand line. 8.5mm rope, gloves, steep move at the top of the step... it could be a bad way to start the day off. My partner is a good climber and had no problem with any of the climbing we did. However, there is an excellence International Mountain Guides has doggedly cultivated over the many years they have been guiding. I needed to uphold the high standards they have set.
So we got the start worked out. As any mom would tell you, "A journey of a thousand miles still starts with getting in the car." The start. OK, little bit of a rocky start. Lets get on with it. The terrain stays a little too steep for my comfort zone. Easy enough ground, but a fall would often go 50'. Rather than the full rope work program, a cordolette between myself and my partner was just enough protection so we could relax. It also helps transfer a steady pace and eases communication between partners.

 If your country has been through a terrible war, or genocide, or a horrible dictator, I am guessing you have a different view on hazards. We are very lucky, in America, to have a very soft perspective on what is dangerous. I would argue it is too soft. To the point of impacting individual toughness, problem solving, and tenacity. With pitbull lawyers and a system that lets it go on, it is hard to change it up much. American society is softer than its competitors. There are certainly exceptions a plenty, but for the 333 million of us, on average... we are not Eastern Europeans.

Lets just say, I disrupted Vittorio's schedule quite significantly. We moved along slower than he wanted to. He did things differently. I argued, do only what will work. We held a very few, quick clinics on technique and I really tried to let him do his job. Really, Really tried. Hard.

You know what Yoda says about Try. I was still only trying. He took the indiscretion like a man though. He kept his mouth shut and did his job. Vittorio, as I suspect is very common in... East Africa, has an exceptionally sweet way about him. I suspect they have been through enough Hell for all their collective lifetimes. In the end, I can't help but have the highest of respect for the people. These guys just need some access to the outside world.

During our day, we had the curtains drawn, some rain, some snow, but not too much heat or cold. I wore the same clothing through out the day.

 When we finally got onto, what I would call, the remnant glacier, My boot selection was at the forefront of my consciousness. The fallacy of my ways, bringing a trail shoe style boot and a lightweight crampon for this terrain was a mistake. The Katoolah spikes I brought are a great set of lightweight spikes, but the tines are too short for alpine conditions. There may not be much of it, but 40-degree-glacier-in-retreat-equatorial-ice is still steep and hard. As much as my Keen boots are my typical go to boot, they aren't a mountaineering boot. What I wanted was a light alpine boot, with a sticky rubber sole, that would take full sized crampons.

The descent was slow. I bit my lip for the bulk of the time, coming down last. The size of the mountain is multiplied by the unending easy-but-not-easy-enough-to-un-roped-in terrain.

Mt. Speke is a large mountain. It fits in well for an acclimitization climb, but there is nothing there I would recommend as a route. Now a traverse of the mountain. It would probably be a 2 day program. That would be a worthy trip.

But, for my first full-on Shipton/ Tilman route, I was disappointed. It is a peak bagger route, not quality climbing, or a grand situation. Obviously, they evolved. As a writer, Bill Tilman is a quiet treasure. The route they did on Speke isn't their best work though.