The western approach, and the one with the best acclimatisation of the routes we run. Two quiet days through the wildest forest on the mountain before it joins the main path at Barranco.
Lemosho starts on the far western side of Kilimanjaro, the side furthest from Moshi and the least walked. You drive round to Londorossi Gate at 2,100 m, clear the paperwork, then drive on again to the trailhead in the forest.
The first two days belong to this route alone. You walk east through rainforest to Mti Mkubwa, the Big Tree camp at 2,780 m, then climb onto the Shira Plateau and cross it. The plateau is the floor of Kilimanjaro's oldest cone, a wide high moorland at around 3,800 m with the summit standing at the end of it.
At Shira 2 the route meets the Machame path. From there the two are the same walk: Lava Tower, Barranco, the wall, Karanga, Barafu, and the summit by Stella Point.
Those two extra days at the start change the odds. By Barranco you have slept four nights on the mountain instead of three.
Day for day, Lemosho is the easiest of the routes we run, because the same climb is spread over more days. From Shira 2 onwards the walking is the walking on Machame, including the Barranco Wall and the same summit night out of Barafu.
The difference is in how you arrive at it. By the time you reach Barranco you have slept four nights on the mountain, two of them above 3,500 m. On seven-day Machame you have slept three, and on the six-day version only two.
The first two days are gentle. Three to four hours, then five to six, on good paths at heights where breathing is still normal.
The Shira Plateau day is long but flat by mountain standards, and most people walk it easily.
Summit night is identical to Machame's, and it is still the hardest thing on the trip. More days do not make it short. They make you better prepared to face it.
The acclimatisation profile is the best of the four routes we run. Eight days, six of them climbing, and a genuine climb-high-sleep-low day in the middle of it.
The first two days are quiet. You may not see another group before the Shira Plateau, and on a mountain that takes tens of thousands of climbers a year that counts for a great deal.
The forest is the wildest on Kilimanjaro. Buffalo and elephant use it, and an armed ranger walks the first section for that reason. Sightings are uncommon and the possibility is real.
You cross the whole Shira Plateau. Climbers coming up Machame join it halfway and miss the western half.
And the summit rates are the highest of anything we publish. More days, more nights at altitude, more people standing on the top.
It costs the most. Park fees are charged per climber per day by the park authority and are the same for every operator, so eight days on the mountain simply costs more than six. That is the mountain's tariff, not the operator's margin.
The drive to the gate is long. Three to four hours round the western side before you take a step.
Every night is under canvas. There is no hut anywhere on this route.
And from Barranco onwards you are on the Machame path with everybody else. The quiet belongs to the first two days, and people who choose Lemosho for solitude are sometimes surprised by Barafu.
Eight days is also a long time away. With flights and a rest day either side it is most of a fortnight before a safari is added.
Lemosho suits anyone whose first aim is to reach the summit. If you have the days and the budget, it gives you the best chance of the routes we publish.
It suits first-timers at altitude, because the profile is forgiving and the early days are easy enough to enjoy.
It suits photographers and anyone who wants the mountain to unfold slowly. The Shira Plateau in early light is the best ground on the western side.
It does not suit a tight budget or a tight week. Seven-day Machame or six-day Marangu costs less and takes less time.
And it does not suit anybody who will not camp. If a bed matters more than the odds, Marangu is the route.
It is identical to Machame's, because you are on the same path. Out of Barafu around midnight, 1,080 m of scree and rock, Stella Point on the rim at 5,756 m after five to six hours, then about an hour round to Uhuru Peak.
The difference is the state you are in when you start. Eight days on the mountain and several nights above 3,500 m put most people at Barafu in better shape than seven days on Machame does, and far better than six.
That shows on the last hour. The rim walk from Stella to Uhuru is short, but it sits above 5,750 m, and it is where climbers who have run out of reserve turn round.
Then the long way down to Mweka Camp. Poles help more on that descent than on anything else in the week.
January to March and June to October, like every route on the mountain.
The western approach is more exposed to weather coming in from that side, so the wet months are harder here than on the northern routes. April, May and November are climbable and often wet, and the forest on the first day holds the water.
August and September are the busiest months, and eight-day Lemosho fills several months out with the better operators. Full-moon dates go earlier still.
January to March is warmer and quieter, and the chance of snow on the summit is higher.
If your dates are fixed and land in the rain, look at Rongai on the northern side. If they are flexible, take a dry window and book early.
Places Kilimanjaro
Eight days on the Lemosho route, starting in rainforest on the mountain's western side, with the longest…
