Mount Galwey III

August 19, 2010

Mountain height:         2348 m
Total elevation gain:   approx. 1200 m
Roundtrip time:           6 hours                     

Solo scramble.

The goal of this trip was to see if an alternate scramble route up Mount Galwey from the east side was possible. Originally I planned to first summit Bellevue Hill and then traverse over to Galwey. However, upon arriving in the area, I found myself uncharacteristically lacking in motivation and therefore opted to skip Bellevue Hill and simply head up to the ridge between the two peaks. Still, I couldn’t resist taking a slightly longer route to visit a large area of red argillite on the upper slopes. Not surprisingly this minor detour yielded some very colourful views of the surrounding area.

The east side of Galwey looked particularly steep from the ridge, but a closer look was definitely warranted. Although a scramble route did not seem possible as I approached the rock-face, a little searching around revealed a possibility up a steep gully. Scrambling up the gully was definitely a high-end affair, but I had convinced myself there was an easy descent route on the other side, should the terrain become too difficult.

At the top of the gully I was disillusioned to discover that not only was the terrain too steep to continue towards the summit, but there was no easy route down on the other side – only a terrific drop-off. As such I very carefully downclimbed the gully and then started traversing around the southeast side of the mountain to find Kane’s normal route – might as well make something of the day.

The traverse, below steep and colourful walls of ledgy rock was expectedly scenic, and the ascent (my third via this route) pleasant and a little nostalgic – always a pleasure to see Galwey’s famous Window. Perfect weather made the ascent and descent even more enjoyable. 

Mount Blakiston

Good old red and blue

The east side of Galwey

Same as above

Same as above, with the unnamed peak between Galwey and Dungarvan at the right - 
options are "Galgarvan Peak" or "Dunwey Peak"

More pleasant colours

Approaching the rockbands; the weakness I ascended is just right of centre

The ascent gully

At the top of the gully, looking up at the remainder of the ascent; chickened out at this point

The tedious, but scenic traverse around Galwey

The Window

From the summit, looking west over the Galwey/Dungarvan traverse

Another summit view; Kintla and Kinnerly in GNP are the distant peaks at the left

Taking the normal route down

Looking back to Galwey