Runs the expeditions
John coordinates our guides and our expeditions. He sets the standards our teams work to, and he is the person our chief guides turn to when a decision on the mountain needs the founder.
John Rees-Evans
Founder of Team Kilimanjaro. He still runs our guides and expeditions, set two Kilimanjaro records in July 2026, and leads climbs himself when a group asks for the founder.
John first climbed Kilimanjaro on 27 March 2000 as an experiment: from Marangu Gate to the summit in a single day, without acclimatising, to learn what the mountain does to a body that has not adjusted. Team Kilimanjaro grew out of what he learned, and began guiding on 30 June 2004. Around 14,000 climbers have reached the summit with us since.
- 23:58:01Base to summit and back, 7 July 2026
- 15:50:04Round the mountain by bike, 17 July 2026
- 57:28Eight-mile run, 17 October 2026
2004Founded Team Kilimanjaro, and still runs it
Two records this year, and a run this week
A founder twenty-two years on could fairly be asked whether he is still in the game. These are three recordings from John’s watch: the two records he set on Kilimanjaro in July 2026, and an ordinary training run.
From the base to the summit and back, in one day
The first complete ascent of Kilimanjaro from its true geographic base: from 777 m near Himo to Uhuru Peak, 5,895 m, and back down, by bicycle and on foot. 117 km and 5,118 m of height gained, in 23 hours 58 minutes 1 second, inside the day with less than two minutes to spare.
Round the whole mountain, by human power
The fastest recorded human-powered circumnavigation of Kilimanjaro, the world’s largest freestanding mountain: 232 km and 3,006 m of climbing by bicycle, from midnight to 15:50:04 the same day.
The watch reads 15:28:30 because its timer was paused by mistake for 22 minutes at a checkpoint.
An ordinary training run
Eight miles, 12.88 km, in 57 minutes 28 seconds. Not a competitive time, and not meant to be: it is the kind of run John keeps up through the year, so that he is ready to lead a climb at a few days’ notice.
What John does now
Designs the routes
Our four routes of our own, TK Lemosho, TK Machame, TK Rongai and TK Umbwe, are his, built on what he has seen work on summit night. He has also opened a new route on the north side of the mountain, up the Credner Glacier and across the crater, and in 2006 he investigated the Western Breach rockfall for the park authority.
Helps people go further
Much of John’s work is helping people get the best out of themselves, and reach what they first thought barely possible: coaching climbers on fitness and weight loss, and leading our support of other people’s records, among them Rebecca Nchereri’s women’s speed ascent in 2005, Bernard Goosen’s wheelchair ascent in 2007, and the youngest person ever to reach the summit, at 5 years 136 days.
Three mottos
John took up three mottos at different points in his life, and all his work is still guided by them. The second is why he keeps himself fit, his kit ready and his diary flexible: a group that needs him at short notice should find him ready.
- 1985
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 - 1998
Ready for anything.
- 2008
The unrelenting pursuit of excellence.
Founder-led climbs
Every Team Kilimanjaro climb is led by one of our chief guides, and our VIP climbs by the most senior of them. They know this mountain as well as anyone, and John relies on them completely.
Some groups nevertheless want the founder with them: a private group travelling with its own staff, a company or family that wants one person with full authority over every decision, or simply climbers who would like to share the mountain with the man behind the records. For them, John joins the climb as expedition leader.
He climbs alongside the chief guide, not in place of him. The chief guide still runs the mountain team; John stays with the group, sets its pace with the guides, and takes the decisions that would otherwise be referred to the office.
- One person with full authorityAn extra day, a change of plan, a helicopter or an early descent, decided on the spot.
- Pacing from experienceHe has climbed the mountain unacclimatised and at speed, and knows how strong climbers get caught out.
- A direct line to the companyYour organiser deals with the founder from the first call to the last day.
- Ready at short noticeSubject to his diary, he can often join a climb within a week or two.
How to arrange it. John leads on Hemingway and other private climbs, for a daily fee on top of the climb price. Ask us for his availability and the fee for your dates.
Earlier speed climbs
John has speed-climbed Kilimanjaro several times since that first experiment.
First ascent, unacclimatised
Marangu Gate to the summit in 12 hours 33 minutes, on his first visit to the mountain.
Solo and unsupported
An ascent of 10 hours 25 minutes 20 seconds, unacclimatised, solo and unsupported, on the Marangu route via Barafu.
Simon Mtuy’s record
Team Kilimanjaro verified Simon Mtuy’s unsupported ascent-and-descent record of 9 hours 21 minutes 47 seconds, published by Guinness World Records in 2010.
Climb with the founder
Tell us your dates and your group, and we will tell you whether John is free to lead, and what it would cost.
Ask about John’s availability