Ndoto M ountains, Poi, Doing A D irty Eastern Groove. D uring July o f 2003, we climbed a new 17-pitch route up the east face of Mt. Poi in the Ndoto M ountains o f northern Kenya. O ur team consisted o f four university students from around the world: Felix Berg from Germany, Peter Horsey and myself from Kenya, and James N utter from England.

The route follows a groove line for m ost of its length up the cliff. The rock quality varies from excellent to frankly dangerous. The route was climbed in a mostly traditional style with bolts being placed at the belays and in areas where the rock quality was too poor for regular gear or run-ou t climbing. The climbing is extremely atmospheric, with 17-pitches carrying you high above the desert floor. There are plenty o f vultures flying back and forth along the cliff to check on the state of their prospective meal.

We named the route Doing a Dirty Eastern Groove. The hardest traditional pitch is graded English E4 6a and the hardest sport pitch goes at about French 7c (5.12d). [For a route-line photo, logistics on clim bing in the N dotos, and survey o f Kenyan clim bing, see the feature articles earlier in this Journal.]

M arnix Buonajuti, Kenya Mountain Club