James ​“KG” Kagambi

In 1987 KG (James Kagam­bi) began his guid­ing career in Kenya as a NOLS field instruc­tor. His patience and teach­ing abil­i­ty grew from his expe­ri­ence as a grade school teacher, coach­ing sports, and teach­ing tra­di­tion­al Africa music. Since his first trips as a guide he reached the ranks of a senior moun­taineer­ing instruc­tor at NOLS. In addi­tion to his work at NOLS, he leads Moun­tain Mad­ness trips to Mount Kenya and the Rwen­zoris in Ugan­da. He has also com­plet­ed three of the Sev­en Sum­mits and in 1992 rep­re­sent­ed Africa in the U.N Peace Climb for the World on the Eiger. KG has sum­mit­ed the Eiger three times, was the first black African to sum­mit Denali in 1989, and was the first black African to sum­mit Aconcagua in 1994. He is active­ly involved in train­ing Kenya’s moun­tain res­cue teams. Most recent­ly he had the plea­sure of meet­ing Kenya’s pres­i­dent after car­ry­ing the 50^th Anniver­sary flag cel­e­brat­ing the country’s inde­pen­dence to the sum­mit of Mount Kenya.