Heim Glacier

The Heim Glacier is one of the steepest and most celebrated glaciers on the southwestern face of Kibo, Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest cone. Flowing beneath the dramatic Breach Wall, it is the setting for some of the most serious technical mountaineering ever attempted on the mountain — including the legendary first ascent of the Breach Icicle by Reinhold Messner in 1978.

Named for a pioneering Alpine geologist, the Heim Glacier combines Kilimanjaro’s scientific heritage with a place in the history of world mountaineering, far removed from the mountain’s gentle trekking routes.

Overview of the Heim Glacier

The Heim Glacier is a steep outlet glacier on the southwestern flank of Kibo, associated with the Southern Ice Field and the ice of the upper mountain. It lies among the famous southern glaciers — near the Kersten and Decken glaciers — but it is best known for the great cliff above it, the Breach Wall, and for the ice features that connect it to the hanging Diamond Glacier higher on the face.

Where most of Kilimanjaro’s ice sits on gentle summit plateaus, the Heim Glacier plunges steeply, making it a rare arena for genuine ice climbing on the roof of Africa.

Where Is the Heim Glacier Located?

The Heim Glacier descends the southwestern face of Kibo, below the Breach Wall, on the steep and rugged side of the mountain away from the standard summit paths.

Key location details:

• Mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro National Park)
• Position: Southwestern face of Kibo, below the Breach Wall
• Associated ice: Southern Ice Field; linked toward the Diamond Glacier
• Neighbouring glaciers: Kersten, Decken, Balletto
• Elevation: steep face rising toward about 5,700 m
• Status: steep, technical, retreating glacier

Named for a Pioneer of Alpine Geology

The Heim Glacier is named after Albert Heim (1849–1937), the Swiss geologist who was one of the great pioneers in the study of mountains and glaciers. Famous for his detailed work on the geology of the Swiss Alps and on how glaciers move and shape the land, Heim helped lay the scientific foundations later used to understand ice on mountains around the world — including Kilimanjaro.

Honouring him with a glacier on Africa’s highest peak reflects the era when European scientists were first mapping and interpreting Kilimanjaro’s ice, in the decades after the mountain’s snows were first reported to a disbelieving Europe.

The Breach Wall and the Breach Icicle

What sets the Heim Glacier apart is the terrain above it. The Breach Wall is a sheer cliff on the southwestern face of Kibo, and for years its most striking feature was the Breach Icicle — a slender pillar of ice linking the Heim Glacier below to the hanging Diamond Glacier above.

In 1978, the celebrated mountaineer Reinhold Messner, with Konrad Renzler, made the first ascent of this Breach Icicle in a bold and dangerous climb that became one of the most famous feats in Kilimanjaro’s mountaineering history. It stands in complete contrast to the mountain’s reputation as a walk-up peak, revealing a Kilimanjaro of serious, world-class ice climbing.

These routes are for elite, experienced mountaineers only, and are very rarely attempted. As the ice has retreated, the character of the Breach features has changed, and such climbs have become rarer still.

Size, Elevation, and Conditions

The Heim 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.
• Its steep southwestern face is exposed to intense direct sunlight, which erodes the ice.
• 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 Heim Glacier is part 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 retreat has dramatically altered the steep ice features of the Breach Wall, including the icicle that Messner climbed.
• 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 Heim 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 ice and through sublimation, where ice turns directly to vapour in the dry, sunlit air. On the steep southwestern face, this has thinned the glacier and transformed the ice features above it.

Seeing the Heim Glacier

The Heim Glacier and the Breach Wall are on a steep, rugged part of the mountain not crossed by the standard trekking routes, but the southern glaciers can be admired from the popular summit approaches.

• Climbers on the Machame Route, Lemosho Route and Umbwe Route gain views of the southern and southwestern ice as they ascend.
• The dramatic Western Breach lies on the same rugged western side of the mountain.
• From high on the southern face toward Uhuru Peak, the scale of the Breach Wall and its glaciers becomes clear.

Why the Heim Glacier Matters

The Heim Glacier is a reminder that Kilimanjaro is far more than a trekking peak. Named for a founding figure of Alpine geology and home to one of the most storied ice climbs in African mountaineering, it represents the wild, technical, and little-seen side of the mountain. Its retreat, which has reshaped the very ice features that made it famous, adds a poignant chapter to the story of Kilimanjaro’s changing climate.

What the Experience Feels Like

For the few who venture onto the southwestern face, the Heim Glacier and the Breach Wall are awe-inspiring — a vertical world of ice and rock utterly different from the mountain’s well-trodden paths. For everyone else, knowing that such wild ice exists on Kilimanjaro deepens the sense of just how vast and varied the roof of Africa really is.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Heim Glacier

Where is the Heim Glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro?

The Heim Glacier descends the steep southwestern face of Kibo, below the Breach Wall, away from the standard summit paths.

Who is the Heim Glacier named after?

It is named after Albert Heim (1849–1937), the Swiss geologist who pioneered the study of Alpine geology and glacier movement.

What is the Breach Icicle?

The Breach Icicle was a slender pillar of ice on the Breach Wall linking the Heim Glacier to the hanging Diamond Glacier above. Reinhold Messner made its celebrated first ascent, with Konrad Renzler, in 1978.

Can you climb the Heim Glacier?

Its steep ice and the Breach Wall offer some of the most serious technical mountaineering on Kilimanjaro, for elite climbers only. These routes are very rarely attempted, and almost all visitors admire this side of the mountain from a distance.

Is the Heim Glacier retreating?

Yes. Along with the rest of Kilimanjaro’s ice, it has retreated sharply, which has transformed the Breach Wall’s ice features; nearly 85 percent of the mountain’s ice was lost between 1912 and 2011.

Need help with Kilimanjaro National Park?

If you’d like help understanding Kilimanjaro National Park, exploring the wild western and southern sides of the mountain, or planning a safe and well-paced climb with views of features like the Heim Glacier and the Breach Wall, we’re happy to guide you through the options and logistics so you can experience the roof of Africa at its most dramatic.