It's the anniversary of the first winter ascent of the north face of the Eiger

Mt. Eiger, located in Switzerland, is only 3,970m high and would normally not appear in a list of the world's most difficult mountains to climb. But it does, because of the notoriety of it's north face, a route that has claimed more than 60 lives.

The north face of Mt. Eiger is ranked tenth in difficulty. For seasoned mountaineers, Mt. Kilimanjaro does not crop up in discussions about difficult climbs. It does not even appear on the list of the 25 most difficult mountains to climb.

I share this short video to mark, today, the 57th anniversary of the first winter ascent of the north face.

https://youtu.be/bGHNoGD_yvA

I have taken one small step towards training

I have taken one small step towards training. The distance I covered is laughable, but worth writing about because it's a start. I hope it will be the successful beginning of my latest preparations for that giant leap of reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro again. 

I always look back at the long arduous track of my failing willpower to begin training, logged before I took the first step towards the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro and nothing since has surpassed that record.

It took me close to ten years from the day I decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to the day I reached the summit.

It has been over two years since I last set foot on Mt. Kilimanjaro and that hiatus has been mirrored on my rather irregular and sparse training sessions.

But - and here's the small step - about two weeks ago I hiked some 8 kilometres on a round trip to Mtuzu Hill with Neema, my cousin. She has also shown interest in joining the next climb scheduled for September this year.

Here's the view from the top of Mtuzu.

It was a morning hike and we didn't come across any wild animals. There are hyenas and baboons on Mtuzu Hill.