Records of Mount Kilimanjaro

The youngest person on record to ever reach the summit was Ryan J. Eckert, a 12 year old American boy living in Nigeria. He reached the top at age 12 with his father and older brother on August 16, 2005.

Current conditions

While the volcano appears to be dormant on the inside, events on top of the mountain draw global attention. The top of the mountain has seen a retreat of the most recent covering of glaciers, with the most recent ice cap volume dropping by more than 80% . In 2002, a study led by Ohio State University ice core paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson predicted that ice on top of Africa's tallest peak would be gone between 2015 and 2020 . In 2007, a team of Austrian scientists from University of Innsbruck predicted that the plateau ice cap will be gone by 2040, but some ice on the slope will remain longer due to local weather conditions . A comparison of ice core records suggests conditions today are returning to those of 11,000 years ago. A study by Philip Mote of the University of Washington in the United States and Georg Kaser of the University of Innsbruck in Austria concludes that the shrinking of Kilimanjaro's ice cap is not directly due to rising temperature but rather to decreased precipitation. As of January 2006, the Western Breach route has been closed by the Tanzanian government following a rockslide that killed four people at Arrow Glacier Camp.[citation needed] The rockslide is believed to have been caused by frost action in an area that is no longer permanently frozen.

After the Western Breach route was closed in January 2006, many expeditions that had intended to use this route have instead used the Lemosho/Barafu route. As the Western Breach route, this route starts to the west and goes up the Shira Ridge towards Lava Tower. Instead of going up to Arrow Glacier camp and the breach, however, this route goes around the southern edge of Kili towards Barafu Camp. From Barafu Camp, around 15,200 feet (4,633 m) altitude, a nighttime summit is usually attempted. As of December 2007, the Western Breach was re-opened, but it sparsely used by Kilimanjaro outfitters due to its inherent risks.