Three points on the crater rim count as the summit of Kilimanjaro. Here is where each one is, what it takes to reach it, and why all three earn a certificate.
Kilimanjaro has three named points on the rim of its crater, and reaching any of them counts as a summit. Uhuru Peak is the true top, at 5,895 metres. Stella Point and Gilman's Point are on the rim below it, where the routes first arrive after the long climb up the scree. Many climbers reach the rim and go on to Uhuru. Some, for good reasons, stop there.
This page explains what each point is, how they connect, and what the certificate says.
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The top of Kilimanjaro is not a peak in the usual sense. It is the rim of a volcanic crater about two kilometres across. Inside the crater is a flat floor with the remains of the Furtwängler glacier and, in the middle, the ash pit of the inner cone.
The routes climb the outside of the crater on the long summit night, and each arrives at a different point on the rim. From there, a path runs along the rim to the highest point. That is why there are three named summits: the two arrival points, and the top itself.
Stella Point, at 5,756 metres, is where the southern routes arrive. If you climb Machame, Lemosho, Umbwe or the Northern Circuit, this is where the steep scree finally ends and the ground levels out.
You usually reach it around dawn. There is a sign, a view across the crater, and often a lot of emotion. From here the path to Uhuru Peak runs west along the rim, rising gently past the glaciers, and takes about an hour.
Most people who reach Stella Point carry on to Uhuru. The hardest part is behind them and the top is in sight. Some, feeling the altitude badly, stop here, and that is a reasonable choice.
Gilman's Point, at 5,685 metres, is where the eastern routes arrive. Marangu and Rongai both climb from Kibo Hut up the long scree slope to this point on the eastern rim.
It is lower than Stella Point and further from the top. From Gilman's the path runs around the rim past Stella Point to Uhuru, and takes about an hour and a half to two hours. That extra distance at extreme altitude is one reason the eastern routes have lower Uhuru success rates: more people reach Gilman's and decide that is enough.
It is still a summit, and the certificate says so.
Uhuru Peak, at 5,895 metres, is the true summit and the highest point in Africa. Uhuru means freedom in Swahili. The peak was named after Tanzania's independence.
There is a wooden sign, a queue for photographs in busy months, and a view that on a clear morning takes in the crater, the glaciers, Mawenzi to the east and the plains far below. The air holds about half the oxygen of sea level.
You stay ten to twenty minutes. Guides move people on because it is cold and the altitude does no good to anyone. Then you turn around and begin the long descent.
Every climber who reaches one of the three points receives a certificate from the park at the exit gate.
A gold certificate is for Uhuru Peak. A green certificate is for Stella Point or Gilman's Point. Both are official, both are signed by the park, and both are earned. Your guide records where you reached and reports it at the gate.
People sometimes feel a green certificate is a failure. It is not. Reaching the crater rim of Kilimanjaro is an extraordinary thing, and the decision to turn around there is usually the right one for the person who made it.
The difference between the rim and the top is not distance or difficulty. It is another hour or two at extreme altitude on a body that has already done the hard part.
The same things that got people to the rim get them from Stella or Gilman's to Uhuru: enough days on the route, a slow pace, water, food, and honesty with the guide about how they feel. The longer routes send more people to Uhuru because they arrive at the rim in better shape.
If you reach the rim and feel able to carry on, carry on. If you are struggling, say so, and let your guide help you decide. Either way, you have climbed Kilimanjaro.
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