UKC

I'm going to the Rwenzori mountains in a little over a week to climb Mt Stanley, but I also have the option to climb another peak while there.
Has anyone done Mt Speke, Mt Baker, or Weismanns Peak (the three options that the trekking company supports) and have any recommendations about these?
I probably don't need to use the climb for acclimatisation because the profile for the rest of the trip is pretty reasonable, so just want to know which is the most interesting climb.

In reply to splat2million:

All 3 are well worth climbing but as you only have one option after climbing Stanley, my vote would be Mt Baker. It was the most enjoyable route out the 3, some nice rocky scrambles further up and a magnificent view towards Margherita - and all the other peaks on the Stanley massif. Great mountains, Enjoy!

In reply to splat2million:

My information is not recent. I visited in 1970 and 74. But my experience may still be valid. On both occasions we failed to get high on Stanley but succeeded on the standard route on Mount Speke. The weather is likely to be challenging. The walk-in is physically demanding too. Go without too many fixed objectives, expecting challenging conditions and prepared to tackle what's feasible in the conditions you find and you'll have a great time. Go with fixed objectives and you may come back disappointed I fear.

Hope that's helpful.

Martin

In reply to splat2million:

If the weather gives you options another vote for Baker. But its the Ruwenzoris so the weather could do anything!

In reply to splat2million:

Thanks all for the advice.

We did succeed on Mt Stanley and actually had good weather for most of the trip, and especially on summit day. The approach was indeed tough (I went above my knees in the mud on more than one occasion) and actually the way down really quite strenuous (I'm not sure I've ever done so much uphill on the way down a mountain).

We ended up picking to try Speke in the end, because it would be done after Mt Stanley (i.e. not jeopardising our main goal for the second peak) but had to abandon that attempt as my friend got a little sick on Stanley and we didn't want to be an extra valley away from the way down. I did manage to do the Weismanns peak on the way down but it was only about a 2-3 hour diversion from the main route and the weather wasn't so great that day.

We climbed with Rwenzori Trekking Services and the guides and porters were really good. The food was nice and plentiful and the whole team very friendly and professional. I had all my own kit, but my friend hired some stuff which was ok quality but I was happy to have my own gear. All the ropes and technical gear used by the team looked in good nick (although a couple of the ice screws looked like they belonged in a museum they still seemed to work well!).
While on the glacier on the way down we passed another large group from another company (which I won't name because I didn't actually check who they were, but I think there's only one other) who were climbing about 7 people per rope with 1 'guide' without any protection and the clients were very clearly complete novices. Another part of the group was shouting out from below about 'evacuating' someone and begging the guides to tell them what to do (although I didn't see anyone sick, and I did look - I think they were just tired). One of our guides very fortunately also managed to catch one of the other team's clients falling and stopped her sliding (and definitely saved all 7 of them on the rope). I was pretty unhappy about being anywhere near them, especially underneath. I would strongly advise anyone considering going that it is a great mountain range and a wonderful, if quite tough, trek - but do some research about the company you use for guides and porters as this is not the only account of this sort of dangerous behaviour on the mountain.