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Fellas I need some sage advice.
The eastern gully up Giants Castle can one hike up it or is it strictly climbed with rope? I have read conflicting reports on this matter. Can someone tell me the truth?

Trev

Some advice - don't know about sage.

This pass gets very little sun - ever.
It is a C-D grade ice climb in winter.
When we descended it (about 22 years ago - but bear in mind that is nothing in geological years) we had to abseil after about only 20m into the gully.
Having only a short length of rope; about 15m if i remember correctly; and having to double it and leave behind a sling I would guess that to be about 5m.
The next overhang was way higher, and we had to do an up/over/ACROSS and down. The "ACROSS" was on a sloping slab with a horizontal crack filled with tenacious berg grass. Tenous grip above allowed us to traverse cautiously over. At this point a thermal waterbottle on a sling slipped down my arm, and i let it go as i had other things to concentrate on.
As I heard nothing behind me I assumed it had landed on grass below. HOWEVER, some seconds later a resounding clang announced it final landing.
It was an extremely sobering moment ( I have yet to fiqure the mathematical calculation for rate of fall ) as the pause between letting go and CLANG was lengthly, and announced clearly the air under our feet.
Below this hairy section the gully is extremely rocky and broken but passable.
To Note:
This is a ROCK pass.
It is a winter ICE CLIMB route.
It requires rope, gear and 'bottle' if you wish to do it safely.
It is an epic pass, and exits/enters close to the Hut.

PS: The thermal bottle survived [being empty] although I found the screw on lid about 30m from the point of impact.
Whilst in the gully we kept hearing a strange whistling sound. It turned out to be a fixed wing glider, white with lumo orange wingtips and nosecone, that was doing repeat passes along the length of the gully.An awesome sight.

Have fun. Let us know how it went.

Tribe, thanks for your story.
I'm afraid I lack the 'bottle' and the gear. Will resort to scuttling up the conventional pass, hopefully some decent ice to see.

Thanks for the info ST2. Funny, I was wondering myself about the gully recently, studying pics and raking through scarce references to it. It's kind of what I had guessed it to be, good to have a confirmation.

Do you think it can be soloed when it isn't iced up? I can understand needing rope on a descent, but can one get up it with reasonable safety without gear?

@intrepid

Soloed, as in 'you'r on your own'?

As a climber I would say yes u can. The first vert pitch [waterfALL/CHOCKSTONE] on the way up is obvious, and overhanging, so you would be forced to go up and over left. Mostly grass and rock, as in Berg grass is safer than berg rock.
I can not comment on the last bit though as we ab'd down it and it is too long ago to recall. I do not recall that this was overhanging though.
I can recall that the gully is fairly narrow at that point and the left or right wall may offer an up.

lET US KNOW.

Thanks ST2. I meant solo as in not setting protection. If it can be safely scrambled then my pack is all the lighter for it. Will see sometime.