by Juan Nel
Kilimanjaro
(5895m/19340ft) is the highest peak in Africa, and the largest volcano in the world. Most hikers climb the mountain in 6 – 7 days
because of the high altitude and the danger of getting altitude sickness. But
then you get people that push everything to its limit and see how fast they can
climb to the top of the major peaks in the world, and Kilimanjaro is one of
them.
Unfortunately
with speed records of any kind there are always much debate about the actual
times and who is honoured with the best time. According to internet sources the
following few people must be mentioned when it comes to conquering this
mountain with the fastest times:
Spanish
mountain runner Kilian Jornet crushed all previous ascent and round trip
records in September 2010. Jornet ascended via the Umbwe Route in 5h23m50s and
descended via the Mweka Route, completing the round trip in 7h14m. This is considered
highly reliable, because Jornet has been the top mountain runner in the world
for the last few years). 
Prior to Jornet, Sean Burch claimed the speed record for the ascent of
Kilimanjaro, 5h28m58s on June 7, 2005, via the Marangu Route. Before Burch, legendary
Italian mountain runner Bruno Brunod were credited with the ascent record of
5h38m40s, set November 22, 2001, also via the Marangu. Brunod descended in
2h56m12s, for a round-trip time of 8h34m52s.
Christian Stangl claims an ascent time of 5h36m38s -- that is 2m faster than
Brunod's time -- set on Oct. 12, 2004, as part of the Seven Summits Speed
Project. Stangl ascended via the Umbwe route, which is shorter and steeper than
the Marangu. His round-trip time is reported as 8h49m3s, but it is not clear
which route was used for the descent.
Tanzanian ultra-runner Simon Mtuy claimed the overall round-trip record of
8h27m, on December 26, 2004, ascending via the shorter Umbwe Route and
descending via the Mweka Route. Note that Mtuy's ascent was through the Western
Breach, which was closed for a couple of years due to a rock slide, but
apparently reopened in January 2008.
Rebecca Rees-Evans of the United Kingdom is credited with the female ascent
record of 13h16m37s on May 21, 2005, via Marangu.
Sources:
Taken from http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mountains&action=display&thread=58 [22.05.12]
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%ADlian_Jornet_Burgada [22.05.12]
Taken From http://www.teamkilimanjaro.com/rebeccareesevans.html [22.05.12]
