Climbing Mawenzi Peak
on Kilimanjaro’s Eastern Flank
by George Brose
Mt.
Kilimanjaro is listed as the highest ‘free standing’ mountain in the world. It rests on
a 3,000 foot high plain on the
East African veld about 165 miles inland from the Indian Ocean. It rises to 19,340 feet at its summit Uhuru
Peak. From top to bottom it is taller
than 29,000 foot high Mt. Everest when one measures only from top to
bottom. The Everest base begins at a
much higher altitude and thus gets the record for the tallest mountain in the
world. But it is not the tallest from
top to bottom.
Kilimanjaro viewed from the south with its three peaks
The town of Moshi is shown
about 14 miles from the peak.
In
reality Kilimanjaro is really three overlapping volcanoes. On the west end is Shira Plateau at 13,000 feet.
In the middle is Kibo listed at 19,340 feet, and to the east is Mawenzi
at 16,893 feet. The lateral distance
between Shira and Mawenzi is approximately 25 miles. A road going around the mountain is approximately
140 miles long. Because Shira is so much
lower than Kibo and Mawenzi and does not project itself sharply above the
horizon, there is not really a good
photo showing all three peaks very clearly.
Thousands
of people climb to Uhuru Peak on Kibo every year. Few ever
attempt Mawenzi, because it is not the highest point in Africa and
perhaps because Mawenzi is a much more difficult climb. The one modern guide book I have does not
even mention climbing Mawenzi. After almost two years of living and working
on the mountain in 1966 and 1967, I made
an attempt to climb Mawenzi with two of my colleagues Jeff Reid, a former London Bobby, and Alan McKewen, an engineer from
Scotland. The following is an account of
our climb which appeared in The Ice Cap, The Journal of the Kilimanjaro
Mountain Club, November, 1974 issue.
For this presentation I have added photos that did not appear in the
original article.
MAWENZI
THE EASY WAY.....
George
Brose
For
the inexperienced and even the experienced alpinist, any attempt on Mawenzi
should be approached with a relatively high degree of caution and respect. When all conditions are perfect, arriving at
Hans Meyer Peak is little more than a scramble.
Yet anyone who has been up the mountain a few times learns how quickly
“perfect” conditions can change into miserable conditions offering a test of
survival to even a very good climber.
In
reviewing back issues of the ICE CAP and hearing personal accounts of several
attempts on Mawenzi, I’ve noted that relatively inexperienced climbers have
shown little or no regard for caution or safety. It should be remembered that having no regard for personal safety
extends beyond oneself and on to anyone
who might feel it his duty or obligation to come after a stranded climber on a mountain rescue. The numerous accidents in the past 6 years
are proof enough. Furthermore anyone
getting into trouble on Mawenzi as well as any other route should realize that
the odds of being rescued on this mountain are pretty slim. Enough of warnings and on to the reporting of
an amateur’s climb to Hans Meyer peak.
In
1966 and 1967, I was stationed in Moshi and had the opportunity to walk a
number of trails on weekends including Umbwe, Mweka, Three Kings, and Neuman
Valleys, and Shira Plateau as well as the chance to help build the hut at the
12,000 foot point on the Umbwe Trail.
After being transferred to the Outward Bound School at Loitokitok, I
found the time and the partners to make an attempt on Mawenzi. After teaching several courses and acquiring
some new skills and training from other instructors, Jeff Reid, Alan McKewen and myself had four
days off to have a go at it. The
unfortunate part was that it was in early June and still raining in
Loitokitok. The School Warden, Derek Pritchard
warned us not to try the final leg if the weather still looked bad.
Our
plan was to follow the Kikalewa trail and stay the first night at the caves on
that route. The approach from Loitokitok in addition to starting at over 6,000
feet is also one of the most gentle slopes on the mountain. At 12,000 feet the caves are just to the
right of the trail at a point where it levels out. Water is available in the valley to the
west. Firewood is abundant, and there is
a splendid view of Mawenzi from the caves.
The second day is not an extremely long one, but there is a quick gain in altitude when moving out of the
Northwest Valley and onto the Northwest Ridge.
The trail at this point was a beaten path, but from the top of the ridge
to the Mawenzi Hut is a cross country
walk over fairly smooth ground. Once on
top, it is a gradual walk again along the base of Mawenzi passing over one or
two gentle rises and down again to the hut which is visible from about one half
mile. We arrived by noon (four hours) blessed by a day of cloudless
sky.
Good
water was flowing out of the snow field and the
scree above the hut was green with vegetation. Numerous signs of eland appeared throughout
the area. We stowed our gear in the hut
and had lunch, then decided to walk up the West Corrie to the Pinnacles. It was an easy walk of less than an hour, and
we tried out the crampons in the snow field.
The
view East from the base of the Pinnacles is superb. It is possible to look down the East Face
into the Great Barranco. The view north
and south are blocked, but if clear, Kibo is very interesting, showing the
concavity between the northern ice field and Uhuru Peak.
Top photo: Mawenzi, with Oehler Gully the snowfield in
the middle. Mid Photo: Mawenzi first
appears after leaving Kikalewa Caves.
Bottom photo: George, Jeff, and
Alan about to set out for the summit.
Helmets? Who needs helmets? It's just loose rock coming down.
By 4:00PM it was beginning to cool
off and up to this time we were still in shorts and shirt sleeves. Only in the shadows was it noticeably
cool. We got down quickly and had supper
in the hut and prepared our equipment for the following day. The weather had been great and all three of
us were feeling very good. We were
entertained at night by a mouse that ran on top of our sleeping bags and sat up
to ask for handouts. We slept so
comfortably that we woke only at 6:00AM and got a late start that nearly proved
to be our undoing later in the day. We
moved north along the base gaining some altitude, passing under the Northwest
Corrie, Oehler Buttress, and the West Buttress in an effort to follow the
original Oehler Gully Route (No.1) in the Mount Kenya – Kilimanjaro Guide
Book. The route is simple enough to
follow, provided you ignore the numerous cairns that well meaning climbers must
have built in the past. In fact the
place seemed littered with cairns. Clear
weather gave us an accurate reading of out position. This should be taken into account by anyone
trying to move on Mawenzi up or down in fog or darkness. The cairns and trail up to the beginning of
the Oehler Gully can cause great confusion and if at all possible one should
wait for clearing. Never go up without
enough equipment so that you old spend the night if necessary.
At the top of the West Buttress, we had an unobstructed view to the north and west and could look down to Mawenzi Tarn as well. We carried on south and into the Oehler Gully. At the base of the Gully there is a short chute up to the Lower Ice Fall. The bottom side of the chute falls off to quite a steep drop, that I would have to estimate to be several hundred feet or at least a drop that would not be very agreeable to fall over. The Gully was fairly well iced at this time but a few bare spots gave reasonable footing up to the Lower Ice Fall. This was the toughest negotiation on the climb up, mainly because the temperature seemed to be dropping. Toes and finger were getting extremely cold, but after a few minutes of individual effort, Jeff was above the Fall on the left side and had a belay set up for Allan and me. The effort warmed us up, and we continued at a rather slow and careful pace. Rocks were already beginning to come down the Gully, and we moved to theright side where hand holds on the wall looked good if we had to climb out, and we walked in the snow and ice maintaining our
this photo. Bottom photo Jeff and George on Hans Meyer Peak.
balance either with ice-axes or a right hand on the Gully wall. We were roped together from the Ice Fall using ice-axe belays when necessary. We passed by the Upper Fall on the right and shortly above it we had our biggest scare of the day. Alan was roped in the middle and was about half way between Jeff and me. Suddenly his handhold broke loose and he was holding a rock in both hands about the side of a basketball. Somehow he managed to turn and drop it into the Gully and regain a hold with his left hand as the three of us listened to the rock making its way down the Gully and crashing and reverberating against the walls. The rest of the trip was uneventful and the last part was an easy walk. At the top, several small formations appear, the ones on the left seeming to be higher and Jeff and Alan tried these while I tried the one on the right. It turned out that I had guessed correctly as the summit book was on my side. The air was blistered by scattered curses from Jeff and Allan as they encountered a little difficulty in coming over to Hans Meyer Point from their position. But finally we were all together and spent a wonderful thirty minutes of elation on the summit but with the thought in our heads that we had to get going to be down by dark. It was quite late in the afternoon by the time we reached the lower Ice Fall. We abseiled over it, and in coming down I somehow managed to tangle the rope on a rock and passed below where it had caught, thereby hanging myself up for a frustrating twenty minutes till it was cleared.
All three of us began to feel the fatigue at this point, and some stress was building up
between us at the thought that it was getting dark and we were still on the
Buttress. We had to pick our way down
gradually and make several back-tracks until we safely reached the base. It was darker than a stack of black cats at
this point, but we knew it was safe ground back to the hut. It took us a good hour to stumble back to the
hut without making supper, we crawled into the sleeping bags and passed out,
three very tired and very lucky amateurs.
A
few weeks later I passed on our experiences to Fred Stevenson who was planning
to make this same trip and who, it saddened me to learn the day I left East
Africa, had died along with his partner on this same route.
It
is for this reason that I write in a more cautious vein about climbing on
Mawenzi, or even on Kibo, as compared with some of the ICE CAP articles in the
past. I feel that many people like
myself with little experience have come out and made climbs which they perhaps
had no business attempting. Perhaps the
element of risk is what makes mountaineering such a great sport. And for the experts this is an accepted
fact. But it is a sudden and concealed
danger that the novice climber has been all too unaware of in the past. My advice is:
1. for at least a year, never go without several who have been there
before; 2. get as much information from others as possible, and 3. try to judge
carefully the individual who is supplying the information. For it is not difficult to be misguided and
misunderstood. And the last basic rule
is: NEVER GO ALONE. There are lots of other information sources on
survival and climbing techniques that should be gained with experience as one
builds up their skills. But never assume
that you can go anywhere on the mountain and come back without encountering unforeseen difficulties that could be fatal.
Mawenzi from Gillman’s Point on Kibo
Photo by Giovanni Balletto
Feb. 9, 2026 It should be noted that only a week ago a serious accident occurred during a rescue on one of the tourist routes, the Mweka Trail on Kilimanjaro. One or two climbers needed to be lifted off the mountain and the helicopter after picking them up crashed near its landing site resulting in the deaths of a guide, the pilot, a crew member and the two climbers. GB
Comment: from Kevin Lillis
Hi
When discussing Mt. Kilimanjaro, it is important to distinguish between Kibo (the highest, walkable peak) and Mawenzi (the jagged, technical peak). Because they require entirely different skill sets, their visitor numbers are vastly different.
1. Kibo (Uhuru Peak)
This is what people mean when they say they are "climbing Kilimanjaro." It is a non-technical trekking peak, making it one of the most popular high-altitude destinations in the world.
Annual Climbers: Approximately 35,000 to 50,000 people attempt to climb Kibo every year.
Success Rate: On average, about 65–70% of these climbers reach the summit (Uhuru Peak).
Accessibility: Most people use routes like Machame, Marangu, or Lemosho, which do not require specialized mountaineering gear like ropes or harnesses.
2. Mawenzi
Mawenzi is the second-highest peak on the mountain (
Annual Climbers: Extremely few—likely fewer than 100 people per year.
Accessibility: For over a decade, Mawenzi was closed to the public due to its high fatality rate and unstable rock.
It has recently reopened, but only for experienced mountaineers with specific permits and technical equipment (ropes, helmets, etc.). Restrictions: Only one group of two climbers is typically allowed on the peak at a time to mitigate the risk of rockfall and accidents
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