1991, 1st edition. 192 pp, color photos. ONCE ONE OF THE WORLD'S HIGHEST MOUNTAINS, WIND, SUN AND RAIN HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL OF MOUNT KENYA AND REDUCED ITS HEIGHT. BUT ITS MAJESTY, AND THE MYSTICISM THAT IT INSPIRES, REMAIN UNDIMMED. LONG BEFORE MANKIND'S EARLIEST ANCESTORS EVOLVED IN THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY TWO OR THREE MILLION YEARS AGO, MOUNT KENYA WAS BORN IN THE TUMULTUOUS MOVEMENTS THAT RE-MODELLED EASTERN AFRICA BEFORE THE RIFT WAS BORN. IN A SERIES OF EARTH-TREMBLING EXPLOSIONS, GREAT CONES OF LAVA BURST OUT OF THE EARTH TO THRUST SKYWARDS. LAYER UPON LAYER, THESE INTERMITTENT BLASTS BUILT MOUNT KENYA - UNTIL, AT ITS APOGEE, IT STOOD AT LEAST 23,000 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL AND ITS BASE ENCIRCLED A CIRCUMFERENCE OF JUST OVER 300 KILOMETRES.
SLOWLY, GLACIATION, TIME AND WEATHER ERODED ITS CRUMBLING CROWN, AND BEGAN TO WEAR IT DOWN TO ITS PRESENT HEIGHT OF 17, 058 FEET. YET IT STILL IMPOSES A FEELING OF AWE IN ALL WHO SEE IT, ESPECIALLY THOSE COMMUNITIES WHO LIVE ON ITS SLOPES AND REGARD ITS SUMMIT AS THE HOME OF GOD. FIRST CLIMBED BY SIR HALFORD MACKINDER LESS THAN A CENTURY AGO, IT IS NOW A MECCA FOR MOUNTAIN CLIMBING ENTHUSIASTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO COME TO RELISH THE CHALLENGE OF ITS ROCK AND ICT CLIMBS AND REVEL IN THE EXTRAORDINARY BEAUTY OF ITS MOORLANDS AND MINOR PEAKS HERE CAPTURED IN ALL THEIR GLORY BY PHOTOGRAPHERS MOHAMED AMIN AND DUNCAN WILLETTS, WHILE BRIAN TETLEY'S TEXT RECOUNTS THE FASCINATING STORY OF 'GOD'S MOUNTAIN.'
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK ARE LISTED BELOW
PROLOGUE - PAGE 11
1 - INTRODUCTION: GOD'S ABODE - PAGE 16
2 - SNOW ON THE EQUATOR -PAGE 24
3 - NO PICNICS ON MOUNT KENYA - PAGE 56
4 - MASTERS OF THE MOUNTAIN - PAGE 100
5 - ON GOD'S MOUNTAIN - PAGE 140
EPILOGUE - PAGE 177. Hardcover, DJ, Fine.
