The limestone pyramid of Gjallica alone in clear morning lightAI image

North-east corridor · hike

Gjallica

The limestone pyramid over Kukës: the longest, highest-gain day this site carries, and the emptiest.

August: best. Settled, hot low down, and dependable on top.

The year · August is underlined

Gjallica: viability by month
RegionJFMAMJJASOND
Gjallica

The walk

Distance25 km
Ascent2250 m
Time11 h
TrackGPX in preparation

Gjallica is the pyramid that stands over Kukës, 2,486 m of Triassic limestone at the western end of the Korab range, with 744 m of prominence, which is why it reads as a single mountain rather than a shoulder of something else. It is the most striking summit in a corner of the country almost nobody walks.

The figures above are the direct route from near Shtiqën: about 25 kilometres round trip with roughly 2,250 metres of ascent, which unseats Tomorr as the hardest day on this site. The eleven hours is this site's approximation from that distance and that gain, stated as such; no source puts a time on this route. A shorter way from Brekije runs about seven hours round trip, but carries no published distance or gain, so it is mentioned here and not printed above.

Treat it as a full alpine day: start in the dark in midsummer, carry all your water, and assume nobody else is on the mountain, because on most days nobody is. Kukës sits below with everything a town offers, and Peshkopi is the base this site already covers.

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