The Aembu, AMiru, Agikuyu and the Masai lived around mt Kenya. The Akamba although not absolutely close to the mountain knew the mount was cold and the black and white patches (manyaa) on the mountain was ice. They also knew the route to the mountain as recorded by Ludwing Krapf. Without written records, it is difficult to say for sure whether they ascended to the pick of the mountain.
As far as recorded climbing is concerned, Sir Halford John Mackinder an English geographer, academic and politician, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy is recorded as having climbed the mountain to point Lenana in 1899.