Furtwängler Glacier

The Furtwängler Glacier is the most famous glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro — a lone remnant of ice standing on the floor of Kibo’s summit crater, close to the highest point in Africa. Though small, it is the glacier most climbers see up close, the one most often photographed, and the ice most studied by scientists tracking the retreat of Kilimanjaro’s snows.

Named for a pioneering climber of the mountain, the Furtwängler Glacier has become the enduring symbol of Kilimanjaro’s vanishing ice — a fragile sheet whose rapid shrinking has been watched by the whole world.

Overview of the Furtwängler Glacier

The Furtwängler Glacier is a small crater-floor glacier, sitting inside the summit caldera of Kibo just below Uhuru Peak. Unlike the plateau ice fields and the steep outlet glaciers on the mountain’s flanks, it stands almost alone on the crater floor — a last island of ice near the very top of the mountain.

Its position, close to the summit and near Crater Camp, makes it the glacier that climbers on the crater routes can walk right up to, its vertical ice walls rising strikingly from the volcanic ash and rock around them.

Where Is the Furtwängler Glacier Located?

The Furtwängler Glacier lies on the floor of Kibo’s summit crater, at around 5,790 metres, only a short distance below Uhuru Peak. It is one of the highest and most central of all Kilimanjaro’s remaining glaciers.

Key location details:

• Mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro National Park)
• Position: Floor of Kibo’s summit crater, below Uhuru Peak
• Nearby camp: Crater Camp
• Approach: often reached via the Western Breach route into the crater
• Elevation: approximately 5,790 m
• Status: rapidly retreating; near disappearance

Named for a Pioneer of Kilimanjaro Climbing

The Furtwängler Glacier is named after Walter Furtwängler, who in 1912, with Siegfried König, made the fourth recorded ascent of Kibo. Furtwängler is also remembered for a remarkable feat of early mountain adventure: he is said to have skied down from the summit of Kilimanjaro, one of the first attempts to descend the mountain’s ice on skis.

His name, given to the ice near the very top of the mountain, ties the glacier to the golden age of Kilimanjaro mountaineering — the same era, 1912, from which the retreat of the mountain’s ice is often measured.

The Symbol of Kilimanjaro’s Vanishing Ice

More than any other, the Furtwängler Glacier has become the face of Kilimanjaro’s ice loss. Because it sits on the crater floor where climbers and scientists can reach it, its shrinking has been documented in detail for decades, and it features in countless photographs comparing the ice of the past with the sliver that remains.

The glacier has lost the great majority of its mass, and in recent years a hole opened through the middle of the ice, splitting the glacier and hastening its decline. Scientists widely expect the Furtwängler Glacier to disappear entirely within years rather than decades — a vivid, close-up example of the changes reshaping the whole mountain.

Size, Elevation, and Conditions

The Furtwängler Glacier lies in Kilimanjaro’s arctic summit zone, where the air stays permanently below freezing while the equatorial sun is fierce.

Conditions on the ice:

• Surface temperatures remain below freezing year-round, from a few degrees below zero by day to well under −15 °C on cold, clear nights.
• On the open crater floor it is fully exposed to intense direct sunlight, which erodes its vertical ice walls.
• Precipitation falls as snow and graupel and often disappears within days.
• The glacier has no active accumulation zone, so it loses more ice than it gains.

A Retreating Glacier: Ice Loss on Kilimanjaro

The Furtwängler Glacier is at the very centre of one of the world’s most studied examples of tropical glacier loss. Almost 85 percent of Kilimanjaro’s ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, shrinking from about 11.4 km² to under 1 km².

Key facts about the retreat:

• Average annual ice loss was about 1.1 percent from 1912 to 1953, rising to 1.4 percent (1953–1989) and 2.5 percent (1989–2007).
• Of the ice still present in 2000, nearly 40 percent had gone by 2011.
• The Furtwängler Glacier itself has lost the great majority of its ice and has split apart in recent years.
• One 2013 assessment estimated most of Kilimanjaro’s ice will vanish by around 2040, and that it is highly unlikely any ice body will remain after 2060.

Why the Furtwängler Glacier Is Retreating

The causes of Kilimanjaro’s ice loss are subtler than simple warming. Research points to a decline in atmospheric moisture — lower specific humidity following a sharp climate shift at the end of the 19th century — rather than rising air temperature as the main long-term driver. No clear warming trend was found at the elevation of these glaciers between 1948 and 2005.

Because the summit air stays below freezing, the ice rarely melts from the top. Instead it is lost mainly through solar radiation striking the vertical ice walls and through sublimation, where ice turns directly to vapour in the dry, sunlit air. On the exposed crater floor, this steady loss has driven the glacier close to disappearance.

Seeing the Furtwängler Glacier

The Furtwängler Glacier is one of the very few glaciers on Kilimanjaro that climbers can approach directly, because it lies on the crater floor near the summit.

• Climbers who camp at Crater Camp can walk right up to the glacier and stand beside its ice walls.
• The Western Breach route leads directly into the crater and past the glacier.
• Climbers on the standard routes pass close by on the final stretch of crater rim toward Uhuru Peak.

Why the Furtwängler Glacier Matters

Small as it is, the Furtwängler Glacier carries outsized significance. It is the most visited, most photographed and most studied ice on Kilimanjaro, and it has become the world’s clearest emblem of the mountain’s disappearing snows. To see it is to witness, at close range, a glacier in its final years — a rare and sobering privilege.

What the Experience Feels Like

Standing beside the Furtwängler Glacier on the crater floor, just below the summit of Africa, is an unforgettable experience. In the thin, freezing air, the ancient ice rises from the volcanic ground in walls of blue and white — beautiful, fragile, and visibly fading. Few places make the reality of a changing climate feel as immediate and as moving.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Furtwängler Glacier

Where is the Furtwängler Glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro?

The Furtwängler Glacier lies on the floor of Kibo’s summit crater, at around 5,790 m, only a short distance below Uhuru Peak, near Crater Camp.

Who is the Furtwängler Glacier named after?

It is named after Walter Furtwängler, who made the fourth recorded ascent of Kibo in 1912 and is remembered for skiing down from the summit.

Why is the Furtwängler Glacier so famous?

Because it sits on the accessible crater floor near the summit, it is the glacier climbers reach most easily and the one most studied and photographed — making it the leading symbol of Kilimanjaro’s vanishing ice.

Is the Furtwängler Glacier disappearing?

Yes. It has lost the great majority of its mass, split apart in recent years, and is widely expected to vanish within years rather than decades.

Can you walk up to the Furtwängler Glacier?

Yes. Climbers who stay at Crater Camp or ascend via the Western Breach can walk right up to the glacier and stand beside its ice walls.

Need help with Kilimanjaro National Park?

If you’d like help understanding Kilimanjaro National Park, planning a crater-camp itinerary that brings you face to face with the Furtwängler Glacier, or choosing a safe and well-paced route to the summit, we’re happy to guide you through the options and logistics so you can experience the roof of Africa and its last remaining ice.