Going down the summit the snow was starting to melt and the slope was very steep. We had ropes to hang on to at times when it was very dangerous. There were intervals when the slightest slip could send you down to a valley of death because there was no way of stopping once you started sliding (steep and slippery straight down more than 100m). I only took snaps where it was safe enough to do so and when there was no guard breathing down my neck telling me to hurry up. We reached Mackinder's camp at about 10:30 am and in an hour started going back to Met. Satation 14 kn through the bog and a bit of forest.
On reaching Met. Station we realised that a boy from our group (school group) was missing. A porter's search party was organised and it left for the search. They returned at night without finding the boy. He could be dead or alive. The following morning we got news that the boy had communicated to the mother and from then on the people in charge started trying to get into contact with him. 4 different parties were sent out to search for him: the porters, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) people, trackers from the British Army and other trackers from the Aberdares region. There was also a chopper ready just in case. The boy was finally found at 2pm in the afternoon. He had slept alone in the wild (there are elephants, leopards and buffaloes on the mountain) and had eaten some random leaves that he said looked like cabbage. We were all very relieved when we heard he had been found...it was quite a story.