Optimal Route Selection on Kilimanjaro’s Western Breach;

introducing some of the team

 

John Rees-Evans

John served with two British Army units before beginning life as an expeditioneer. He has led various expeditions throughout the world. Complementary to his role with TK he serves as a mountain safety consultant to Kilimanjaro National Park and was responsible for determining the cause of the tragic accident of 4th January 2006 which resulted in the Western Breach assault route being closed.

 

He holds the verified British speed record for Kilimanjaro, has created a completely new route on the north side of Kilimanjaro that ascends the Credner Glacier and traverses the Crater, and has advised the National Parks authorities on environmental impact reduction.

 

John co-ordinates in excess of 200 Kilimanjaro expeditions annually and is currently in training to attempt the world’s first continuous 5,000 metre vertical speed ascent to Kilimanjaro’s summit.

 

 

 

Rebecca Rees-Evans

Rebecca holds the woman’s world record as the fastest woman to climb Kilimanjaro, and has participated in a number of groundbreaking expeditions, including an unsuccessful speed ascent attempt on Everest’s North Face.

 

A mother of four, she is currently preparing for a new faster women’s world record on Kilimanjaro.

 

Until her mid-twenties Rebecca had no experience of expeditions or mountaineering. As a relative new-comer to altitude, Rebecca has uniquely valuable insight into the needs of, and challenges faced by, non-mountaineer clients. She has therefore been able to provide the team with a very down to earth perspective and some critical input that considers the needs of relative novices.

 

Rebecca is to be seen in many of the images on this site, has been integrally involved with our research, but does not recommend the Western Breach as a preferred assault route.

 

 

 

Willy Shikuku Ooko

Willy has vast experience of mountaineering in East Africa and regularly co-ordinates ascents of Mount Kenya. Having played a leading role in the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Kenya programme, Willy has vast experience in training and leading people from a wide array of backgrounds and levels of experience in wilderness environments.

 

Willy does not co-ordinate ascents of Kilimanjaro and was invited by Tanzania National Parks to lead the Breach’s second accident research investigation and to present the team’s findings to a specially assembled mountain safety board. Willy has brought an impartial perspective to the matter of safety on the Breach.

 

On his third occasion to visit the face, encountering sub-surface ice formed from glacial run-off, he expressed the view that the the risk of a fall was too high to warrant recommendation of the route as a safe assault option on Kilimanjaro.

 

 

 

Imani Kikoti

Imani is the Zonal Park Warden for all of Northern and Western Kilimanjaro and was largely responsible for overseeing KINAPA’s rescue efforts and evacuation following the tragic accident on the Western Breach on 4th January 2006. He continues to advise TANAPA on safety matters on Kilimanjaro.

 

Very cautious by nature, Imani is apprehensive about the use of the Western Breach as an assault route but continues to co-ordinate rescue teams to remain on stand-by at Barranco Huts,  3.5 kilometres to the south-southwest of the Breach.

 

Imani also oversees registrations for all climbs approaching the Breach from the Western Routes, Shira and Lemosho.