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Is anyone still guiding Western Breach on Kili?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:43 am
by triyoda
I realize this was closed in early 2006. Is it open now? If not are there plans for this route to ever open? Looking into an August 2008 climb and would like to go this way if possible.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:34 am
by Renardo
The official Arrow Glacier route is closed.. our guide said that it was still possible to climb from the west, but I'm not sure if that would be a sanctioned route.. some companies still bring clients to camp in the crater, but I'm not sure what route they use..

Either way I would attempt to contact some guides there and ask them directly instead of going though one of the big companies, which will either tell you NO or want a lot of money.. PM me and I can give you a contact to start..

Re: Is anyone still guiding Western Breach on Kili?

PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:05 am
by Kurt Wedberg
triyoda wrote:I realize this was closed in early 2006. Is it open now? If not are there plans for this route to ever open? Looking into an August 2008 climb and would like to go this way if possible.


The Western Breach is still closed. I'm leaving to guide a trip there on Dec 30. If you PM me a couple weeks after that I'll have any new information coming down the pipeline about it.

Renardo wrote:The official Arrow Glacier route is closed.. our guide said that it was still possible to climb from the west, but I'm not sure if that would be a sanctioned route.. some companies still bring clients to camp in the crater, but I'm not sure what route they use..


Currently the way people are camping in the crater is by ascending from Barafu Camp which is the high camp for anyone going on the Machame. Other routes also feed into it too.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:57 am
by Kurt Wedberg
OK, I just got back from Africa and inquired about the Western Breach. It is open again. I wasn't able to talk to anyone who had actually climbed it but they have opened that route for climbing again.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:43 pm
by ropejunkie
Kurt do you have a summit photo from your recent climb of Kili? I heard they moved the summit sign so it is angled in a direction to catch the morning sun now. I'm just curious. I would like to go back there sometime and do it feeling a little better than I did before. That would be an excuse to try the Western Breach.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:36 pm
by Kurt Wedberg
Yup, here you go. It was a great group of people. I'm very proud of all of them for the great effort they gave on this climb.

Image

PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:29 pm
by divnamite
BTW, weastern breach is now opened for guiding, I just did it last week. I think most guiding companies are doing this route again. I used DETASA, but I saw Wilderness Travel, Kiliwarrior and some European groups.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:03 am
by triyoda
Lhotseface wrote:
divnamite wrote:BTW, weastern breach is now opened for guiding, I just did it last week. I think most guiding companies are doing this route again. I used DETASA, but I saw Wilderness Travel, Kiliwarrior and some European groups.


So does anyone know why it was closed in the first place? What, if anything, was done so that now it's suitable to be opened again?


Some people got killed by rockfall. The closing of the route was just a typical over reaction. There is always some risk. Like anything the over reaction passed and the route was "opened" again.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:46 am
by 7summits
The arrow is all but gone now. Many underlying ice has melted and former firm rocks are letting go, so teh situation is not improving and never will.

We have guided one team this year through the breach as conditions were good (fresh snow, cold weather etc), but both our clients as well as ourselves prefer to make a the crater camp via the Lemosho-Machame route. Longer => better acclimatised, so you will have energy for a trek around the crater and glaciers.

Kili is wonderful, do not rush it!
Cheers, Harry

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:19 am
by axelandr
I just got back from the Western Breach, and it felt pretty safe to me. Didn't experience any small or major rockfall, and the route up was fine. Exposed at some parts, but fine. I was the only party on the route, and when I saw the line of people coming up from Barranca or Marangu I was VERY pleased I chose to do the Western Breach instead. All in all a great experience.
There is a couple of points of no return though (I guess you only need one), so you gotta be well acclimatized and minding your shape on the way up. I would not like to be stuck somewhere up there in a bad shape, it's hard to get down if you're not feeling well, and after a specific point the only way is over the summit and down. I think this point was around 5300 masl.

alex.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:44 am
by JanG
Congratulations! You should have gone down the Marangu (aka Coca Cola) trail rather than risk injury with a descent on the same route. How did you go up, the Machame?

We combined the Western Breach with the Umbwe (spectacular). You can read my TR.

Cheers!

JanG

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:31 am
by axelandr
I went down the Mweka-trail, as going down the Western Breach isn't really an option worth considering.. Came up trough Machame.

Alex.