Great Penck Glacier

The Great Penck Glacier was one of the outlet glaciers that once flowed from the Northern Ice Field on the summit of Kibo, Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest cone. Today it is remembered as one of the mountain’s vanished glaciers — ice that survived for centuries on the roof of Africa and has now disappeared entirely, a casualty of Kilimanjaro’s dramatic retreat.

Its story, and that of its companion the Little Penck Glacier, is one of the clearest illustrations of how far the mountain’s famous ice has shrunk within a single century.

Overview of the Great Penck Glacier

The Great Penck Glacier was a plateau outlet glacier fed by the Northern Ice Field, descending the northern slopes of Kibo. Along with the Little Penck Glacier, it formed part of the network of ice tongues that once spilled from Kilimanjaro’s continuous summit ice cap.

As the mountain’s ice retreated through the 20th and early 21st centuries, the Penck glaciers thinned, fragmented, and finally disappeared — leaving only their names on the maps and in the scientific record of Kilimanjaro’s ice.

Where Was the Great Penck Glacier Located?

The Great Penck Glacier lay on the northern flank of Kibo, flowing from the Northern Ice Field above 5,700 metres, in the remote and quiet country on the far side of the summit from the main climbing routes.

Key location details:

• Mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro National Park)
• Former position: Northern slopes of Kibo
• Source: Northern Ice Field
• Companion glacier: Little Penck Glacier (also vanished)
• Elevation: from about 5,700 m down the northern slope
• Status: vanished — no longer present on the mountain

Named for a Pioneer of Glacial Science

The Penck glaciers were named in honour of Albrecht Penck (1858–1945), the German geographer and geologist who was one of the founders of modern geomorphology and a pioneer in the study of ice ages and glacial landscapes. His work on how glaciers shape the land helped establish the very science used to understand Kilimanjaro’s ice.

Honouring Penck with glaciers on the highest mountain in Africa reflected the era when European scientists were first documenting Kilimanjaro’s ice, geology and volcanic origins — a time when that ice was far more extensive than it is today.

A Glacier That Has Vanished

The Great Penck Glacier is now counted among Kilimanjaro’s lost ice. Where a tongue of ancient ice once descended the northern slope, bare rock now lies exposed to the equatorial sun. Its disappearance is part of the same retreat that has erased other named glaciers and reduced the mountain’s summit ice to scattered remnants.

The loss of the Penck glaciers is a stark, tangible measure of change: within roughly a century, glaciers that had persisted for hundreds of years melted, sublimated and fragmented until nothing remained.

How Much Ice Kilimanjaro Has Lost

The vanishing of the Great Penck Glacier fits within 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.
• Smaller and more exposed glaciers, like the Penck glaciers, were among the first to disappear completely.
• One 2013 assessment estimated most of Kilimanjaro’s remaining ice will vanish by around 2040, and that it is highly unlikely any ice body will remain after 2060.

Why the Great Penck Glacier Disappeared

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 did not simply melt from the top. Instead it was lost mainly through solar radiation striking the vertical ice walls and through sublimation, where ice turns directly to vapour in the dry, sunlit air. For smaller glaciers with less ice to begin with, this steady loss meant a faster path to complete disappearance.

Where the Great Penck Glacier Once Stood

Although the glacier itself is gone, the northern slopes of Kibo where it once flowed can still be traversed — and the surviving northern glaciers seen — on the quieter routes over the summit.

• The Northern Circuit Route traverses the remote northern slopes where the Penck glaciers once descended.
• The surviving Credner and Drygalski glaciers still flow from the same Northern Ice Field.
• From the crater rim between Gilman’s Point and Uhuru Peak, climbers look out over the northern summit where this ice once lay.

Why the Great Penck Glacier Matters

A glacier that no longer exists still has much to teach. The Great Penck Glacier is a vivid, concrete example of what Kilimanjaro has already lost — not a projection or an abstraction, but a named glacier that has simply gone. Its disappearance gives real weight to the story of the mountain’s vanishing ice, and honours a scientist whose work helped humanity understand glaciers in the first place.

What Its Loss Tells Us

To stand on the northern slopes of Kibo and know that a glacier once flowed where there is now only rock is a quietly powerful experience. The Great Penck Glacier is a reminder that Kilimanjaro’s ice is not a fixed feature of the landscape but a fragile, changing one — and that some of it has already passed beyond living sight.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Great Penck Glacier

Does the Great Penck Glacier still exist?

No. The Great Penck Glacier is one of Kilimanjaro’s vanished glaciers — it has disappeared entirely, along with its companion the Little Penck Glacier.

Where was the Great Penck Glacier located?

It lay on the northern flank of Kibo, flowing from the Northern Ice Field above 5,700 m, on the remote northern side of the summit.

Who were the Penck glaciers named after?

They were named after Albrecht Penck (1858–1945), the German geographer and geologist who helped found modern geomorphology and pioneered the study of ice ages and glacial landscapes.

Why did the Great Penck Glacier disappear?

Like the rest of Kilimanjaro’s ice, it was lost to reduced atmospheric moisture, intense solar radiation on its ice walls, and sublimation. As a smaller glacier, it disappeared completely sooner than the larger ice bodies.

Can you still visit where the Great Penck Glacier was?

Yes. The Northern Circuit Route crosses the northern slopes where it once flowed, and the surviving Credner and Drygalski glaciers can still be seen on the same side of the mountain.

Need help with Kilimanjaro National Park?

If you’d like help understanding Kilimanjaro National Park, exploring the quieter northern side of the mountain where glaciers like the Great Penck once flowed, or planning a safe and well-paced climb, we’re happy to guide you through the options and logistics so you can experience the roof of Africa and its changing ice.