Mount Giluwe, in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands, is the country’s second-highest mountain at 4,367 metres and the highest volcano in Australia and Oceania, making it part of the Volcanic Seven Summits. It is an ancient shield volcano with wide alpine grasslands and two main peaks formed from old volcanic plugs, with the central peak being the highest.
Geologically, the original volcano formed roughly 650,000–800,000 years ago and was heavily eroded by Pleistocene glaciation, leaving only the hard volcanic plugs as summits. Later volcanic eruptions 220,000–300,000 years ago created the broad shield-like structure seen today. During the last Ice Age, a thick ice cap covered much of the mountain, with glaciers extending down the slopes and shaping features such as cirques, moraines, and U-shaped valleys. Today, the summit plateau is still cold enough for frost and occasional snowfall.
Mount Giluwe is a rewarding, less technical climb with unique volcanic landscapes and a more gentle profile than Mount Wilhelm. Most reasonably fit trekkers can summit successfully with proper preparation.