Massif·Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro

5,895m

East African mountains

Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 5,895m
Prominence: 5,895m
Isolation: 5,510km
Relief: 1,984mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 40°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 3.0675°S, 37.3564°E

Mountain massif in Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro is a mountain massif in the East African mountains (Tanzania). Its summit stands 5,895 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 5,895 m, and the nearest higher ground is 5,510 km away.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,911 m), it rises 1,984 m. The steepest side is the west face: 13° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 40° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Oloitokitok, 23 km away at 1,769 m: 4,126 m below the summit.

Mount Kilimanjaro for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

7.0/10

Difficulty to the top

Mountain walk

Most path sections around the top are T2 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

1.7/2.57 waymarked routes and 30 path sections nearby
0.0/1.50 huts and shelters
2.0/24,126 m of ascent from the valley
1.5/1.55,895 m of prominence
1.5/1.510 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

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Snow

When there is snow on Mount Kilimanjaro

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit5,895 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up3,832 mno snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow
Oloitokitok1,769 mno snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Mount Kilimanjaro, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average February afternoon the summit reaches about -2 °C; on July nights it falls to about -16 °C. Even in the warmest month the summit stays below freezing all day: ice and snow all year round. Even at its highest, in February, the 0 °C line reaches only about 5,610 m: 285 m below the summit. Across the region, July is the driest month (17 mm) and April the wettest (151 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Oloitokitok high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-3	-14	24	5,460	75	12	9.0
February	-2	-13	25	5,610	68	10	9.3
March	-2	-13	25	5,600	100	15	8.7
April	-3	-13	24	5,380	151	22	7.4
May	-5	-14	22	5,130	108	19	6.8
June	-6	-16	21	5,010	28	8	6.0
July	-6	-16	21	5,010	17	4	5.9
August	-4	-16	22	5,200	19	4	6.0
September	-3	-15	24	5,490	22	4	7.6
October	-2	-14	25	5,610	78	9	8.0
November	-3	-13	24	5,460	142	20	7.6
December	-4	-13	23	5,330	131	20	8.2

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 1,843 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Mount Kilimanjaro

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

Mount Kilimanjaro seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 5 km

Other summitsGlaciersCampsites

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

—mountain huts and shelters
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
7waymarked hiking routes
Machame, Mweka, Lemosho, Northern Circuit and 3 more
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
1named glaciers
Furtwängler Glacier
—viewpoints
15campsites
Second Cave Camp, School Hut Camp, Arrow glacier camp, Pofu and 11 more
—hotels, B&Bs and chalets
—restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

30 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T1T2T3

T1 hiking
T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking

Towns at the foot

Oloitokitok23 km · 1,769 m
Tarakea24 km · 1,653 m

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OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

Chagga man mount kilimanjaro — Keyboard Editor · CC0

Footprints on the top of Africa — Collinsalex2 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	-3	-2	-2	-3	-5	-6	-6	-4	-3	-2	-3	-4
2020	−2.7	−2.4	−2.7	−2.2	−1.5	−1.6	−1.8	−0.8	−0.8	+0.1	−0.8	−1.5
2021	−1.7	−1.8	−0.6	−1.3	−0.8	−1.8	−2.4	−1.1	−1.3	+0.4	+2.4	−1.2
2022	−2.3	−2.7	−0.4	−0.4	±0.0	−0.6	−1.6	−2.6	−4.5	−3.2	−1.7	−0.9
2023	−1.4	+0.5	+0.4	−0.4	−0.6	−1.5	−2.2	−2.8	−2.0	−1.3	−2.9	−1.5
2024	−2.4	−1.8	−2.0	−2.0	−0.5	−0.6	+0.4	+0.2	+0.6	+1.3	+0.7	−1.0
2025	−1.2	−0.6	−0.1	−0.6	−0.6	−0.6	−2.2	−2.6	−1.3	−0.6	+0.6	+1.1

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

4,562 mMount Meru

Tanzania69 km away

2,960 mOl Doinyo Lengai

Tanzania164 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q7296) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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