Gateway Nunatak is a prominent nunatak

Nunatak

A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...

 near the head of Mackay Glacier

Mackay Glacier

Mackay Glacier is a large glacier in Victoria Land, descending eastward from the polar plateau, between the Convoy and Clare Ranges, into the southern part of Granite Harbour. Discovered by the South Magnetic Pole Party of the British Antarctic Expedition and named for Alistair F...

, standing 9 nautical miles (17 km) west of Mount Gran

Mount Gran

Mount Gran is a large flat-topped mountain, 2,235 m, standing at the north side of Mackay Glacier and immediately west of Gran Glacier in Victoria Land. Discovered by the British Antarctic Expedition which named it for Tryggve Gran, Norwegian naval officer who was a ski expert with the expedition....

, in Victoria Land

Victoria Land

Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...

. Surveyed in 1957 by the New Zealand Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole...

(1956–58), and so named by them because it marks the most obvious gateway through the upper icefalls for parties traveling west up the Mackay Glacier.