Hannah Otto has ridden up and down Kilimanjaro in a single day, the first woman known to have done it, and pedalled the last 3 km on a broken leg. What the ride involved, who went before her, and the cause she rode for.
Hannah Otto, the American professional mountain biker, has ridden up and down Kilimanjaro in a single day, the first woman known to have done it. She announced it on 4 November 2026 with a photograph of herself and her bike at the Uhuru Peak sign, 5,895 m19,341 ft, and five words: "Mission accomplished! Dream come true!"
She finished on a broken leg. About 3 km from the end, on a muddy stretch of the forest track, her bike slid out and her foot caught under it. X-rays later showed a broken tibia. She used the bike as a crutch to get back on and pedalled the last 3 km with one leg. Her husband, the mountain bike racer Clayton Otto, ran to her at the finish, and she told him not to touch her so that the ride would still count.
Up and down in one push
The ride is about 29 km each way. Otto set off through the rainforest in the dark of the early morning and rode pitches steeper than 40%. She carried the bike on her back over the rocks of the summit cone to a summit covered in snow. She had spent the week before acclimatizing on the mountain, riding part of the route each day. A film crew and a ground team from Intrepid Travel went with her.
The park allows a bike towards the summit on one route only, the Kilema route. It is a rescue track from Kilema Gate to Horombo Hut, then the walkers' path to Kibo Hut and the crater rim. The Kilema route chapter describes it day by day, as most riders do it, over five or six days.
Who went before her
Nicholas and Richard Crane took bicycles to the summit over Christmas 1984 and New Year 1985. In January 2022 the Canadian endurance rider Cory Wallace rode from Kilema Gate to Uhuru Peak and back in 8 hours 55 minutes, the fastest known time. Otto has not yet published her own time.
Why she rode
The ride raises money for World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles to people with little means in remote places. Her goal is 1,000 bikes, and a film of the ride is in the making. Donations go through her campaign page, Beyond the Summit.
For what riding Kilimanjaro involves for everybody else, the rules, the fees and two easier rides, read Kilimanjaro by bike and the guide's cycling section.
Photos: Rachael Galipo, from Hannah Otto's Instagram post of 4 November 2026.