Tanzania · 5,895 m

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Everything that decides whether you stand on the summit — and almost none of it is fitness.

Summit: 5,895 m; Uhuru Peak
Technical skill: None; No ropes, no climbing
Typical length: 6–9 days; Longer is better
Best months: Jan–Mar, Jun–Oct; Two dry seasons

Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world and the only one of the seven summits most people could walk up without a rope. That combination is exactly why it is so often underestimated.

There is no technical climbing on any of the standard routes. What there is: six to nine consecutive days of walking, one very long night, and air that thins until each breath at the summit carries a little under half the oxygen of the same breath at sea level.

Almost everything worth knowing about planning a climb follows from that last fact — so this guide is organised around it rather than around our itineraries.

Five climate zones in a week

Walking up Kilimanjaro is roughly equivalent to walking from the equator to the arctic. It is why the packing list looks excessive and why it is not.

Cultivation 800–1,800 m Farmland and villages on the lower slopes. You drive through this, you do not walk it.
Rainforest 1,800–2,800 m Humid, green and loud with birds. Day one on most routes. Expect rain.
Moorland 2,800–4,000 m Giant heather and lobelia. Warm days, cold nights, and the first altitude you will notice.
Alpine desert 4,000–5,000 m Bare volcanic rock, fierce sun, hard frost. Sleep is poor here and that is normal.
Arctic 5,000–5,895 m Scree, ice and glacier. Roughly half the oxygen of sea level.

Why the itinerary decides it

Your body adapts to altitude overnight, at the height you sleep at. Not the height you walked to during the day, and not how fit you are. That is why a route that touches 4,630 m at lunchtime and descends 670 m to camp is doing something genuinely useful, and why an extra night below 4,000 m is worth more than any amount of training.

A well-paced eight-day profile Route Sleeping altitude

A well-paced eight-day profile
Day	Location	Altitude (m)	Distance (km)	Overnight
1	Londorossi Gate	2,100	0	No
1	Mti Mkubwa Camp	2,650	6	Yes
2	Shira 1 Camp	3,610	14	Yes
3	Shira 2 Camp	3,850	21	Yes
4	Barranco Camp	3,900	31	Yes
5	Karanga Camp	3,995	36	Yes
6	Barafu Camp	4,673	40	Yes
7	Uhuru Peak	5,895	48.5	No
7	Mweka Camp	3,100	57	Yes
8	Mweka Gate	1,640	67	No

How acclimatisation works

Which route

7 established routes, all finishing at the same summit. They differ in length, gradient, scenery, how many people you meet, and — decisively — how gradually they gain sleeping altitude.