Kenyan first-time mountaineer Dr Faith Mwende is almost at the peak of the highest mountain in the world, Everest.
Mwende said she had by Sunday covered 6,119 metres of the mountain located in Nepal, Asia.
She is left with 2,729m to scale the mountain that measures 8,848m above sea level.
After summiting the mountain, Mwende intends to fly both the Kenyan and Makueni County Governments' flags at its peak.
She will then descend the mountain to complete her mission of summiting Mt Everest.
“After the rotations, the projected summit time is around mid or end of May, 2023,” Mwende told the Star on phone on Sunday.
She started climbing the mountain on April 18, 2023.
Mwende maintains that no summit is too high, as she continues to concur the mountain to become the first Kenyan female to summit Mt Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
She takes foods like rice, ndengu, potatoes, garlic soup, and chicken mostly from Kathmandu base camp.
She, however, noted that she faces weather challenges.
“The weather is unpredictable. Sometimes we get some sun, then it changes and at night it becomes cold,” Mwende said.
“I wake up, pray, and meditate before doing a ten-minute exercise or yoga. The intensity of the exercise reduces as you go up,” Mwende said.
She eats breakfast at 8.30 am, lunch at 12.30 pm and dinner at 6.30 pm.
Mwende said she does rotations at a base camp to make her body acclimatize.
“We are at the base camp. The base camp is like a city full of operations. We are doing rotation which may take time depending on weather and I also intend to do one of my rotations at Lobuche Peak,” Mwende said.
She is summiting the mountain together with a team of seven other mountaineers from other continents, she is the only one from Africa.
The financial expert at the Capital Markets Authority left Nairobi alone on April 13 and arrived in Nepal on April 15.
The woman in her 30s with roots in Makueni county said she was scaling the mountain as part of her campaigns on climate change that has ravaged much of Africa, Kenya included.
Not only the land but the mental health and peace.
She said a base camp is a place where climbing activities are set and coordinated between the base and the top.
Mount Everest has four base camps; one, two, three and four.
“That’s where when climbers do rotation come back to either when they do rotation downwards or upwards,” Mwende said.
“So, we are doing rotation now at the base camp. Rotations are going higher or lower for your body to rest and acclimate as we wait for the weather window. My rotation will include Lobuche peak which is 6, 119 metres,” Mwende said.
She said climbing the mountain was a costly affair that goes up to Sh10 million. Mwende is fundraising to enable her to accomplish her mission of summiting Mt Everest.
Mwende earlier said her father inspired her passion for mountain climbing.
She said she had climbed Mt Killimanjaro three times, Mt Kenya ten times, alongside others like Elgon and Meru countless times.
She first climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in 2012 and got to Mt Everest’s base camp in 2021.
