Relaxing in Ratho

As this year has ticked by the one place that I've always been keen to revisit for a bit of relaxed cragging is the outdoor quarry next to EICA Ratho. The rock quality is very good and provides a style of climbing I enjoy very much, in addition to this the routes are all a good length and fairly well protected. For me it's a great place to push my trad grade with multiple quality lines in the low to mid "E" grades. It was here I chose to lead my first E2 (Shear Fear) and on this weekend I was in the quarry to tick another central belt testpiece; wally 1 (E2 5c).

Shear Fear, My first E2

Originally I had planned to climb Wally 1 on the same day as shear fear, however the aspect of the route means it sees very little of the sun and unfortunately was soaking wet. I would have to be patient.

The opportunity arose for another attempt 2 days ago, Joe was feeling a little better after having been afflicted by "the plague" so after church and full of Mercy Macfarlanes fine cooking I made the now familiar journey down to Ratho quarry.

The afternoon began with Joe sending Rock a boogie (VS 4c) to warm us both up. The route is fairly straightforward apart from an awkward layback into a mantle.

Rock a boogie under blue skies

After seconding the route I went over to the "east bay", the blackest and most foreboding wall in the quarry. It sees very little of the sun and has a film of lichen over a lot of the rock. This less than appealing wall is the site of some of the most classic lines in the quarry including my nemesis of choice; Wally 1.

After a short psyche-up session at the bottom of the route I racked all the gear onto my harness and set off up a thin flake crack only to be stopped at literally the first hurdle. 

The way the rock had formed meant that the only available foothold was one at an awkward angle that seemed to force my foot off the wall and my body away from a small sidepull crimp up and to my left that I was fairly sure was my next hold. The gear at this point was fairly poor as the crack was too parallel to easily arrange my nuts (please don't take that out of context) and too thin to put my smallest cam in. after backing off the route once and having a think from the ground I twisted my ankle around to sit it on the foothold as best as possible and committed to the move. As is always the case you immediately wonder what you were worrying about and think that the move was fairly easy, sadly retrospect isn't something we're gifted before an event. 

The line follows the flake splitting the middle of the buttress
then straight up the cracked wall above

Another few technical moves above questionable nuts led to a great rest on a slot where I arranged a bomb shelter with some of the best looking cams I've ever placed. After this the route steepened and the line became less obvious, I bridged far out right (the disco leg made a brief appearance) onto another break in the rock where I rested once again, no gear was placed because of rope drag concerns. 

Bridging back up and left brought me to a good pocket where I placed another piece in a flaring peapod shaped crack. I pulled up  again and stuffed my hand into the "peapod" crack experimenting with various jams until I finally settled on a fist jam with my right hand. I yanked on my right hand a few times to get it properly stuck in the flaring crack. This unfortunately was my only decent(ish) hold, my feet were on nothing and my left hand was crimping hard on a small quartz vein. I won't lie I've felt more confident as to my chances of succeeding on a move as I did then, I re-assured myself that even if my last two pieces popped out I'd still fall onto my nest at mid height which would almost certainly hold.

Wally 1 looking dank and foreboding, ignore first appearances,
It's a fantastic route!

I yarded up hard on my fist jam to put my right foot into a good pocket which I stood up on to grab the good holds at the end of the climb. The closing sections of the route were soon dispatched and I was lying atop the buttress overcome with joy. If Ratho had still been open I'm sure my joy would've been heard in the offices adjacent the route. The sense of fulfilment when you've really battled hard for something is just incredible, I never at any point doubted my chances of getting to the top, this doesn't mean I wasn't scared it just means I didn't doubt myself and that is really the key to having a great time. When you are confident you don't suddenly stop being scared but the fear becomes great fun in a masochistic sort of way. You have to try it to understand!

Back in blue skies!

I abbed off of the route to clean the gear and was soon firmly stood on terra firma. The next and final route of the day was Joe's send of Blue Rinse (E1 5c) extra points go to Joe for climbing E1 whilst still recovering from the plague! The difficulties of the route were just above a ledge at mid height so Joe was reluctant to commit in case of an ankle breaking fall. After re-arranging his head space he was pulling up on the slopey holds onto the friendlier ground above. A solid lead!

Pre crux psyche up session

A nice sunny shot to counter all the muggy ones!

After three routes we decided we'd spent enough time in the quarry (especially as my lead had taken 50 minutes) and it was time to leave. Unsurprisingly the adventure was not over, first The climbing arena was closed and our easiest route out of the quarry was locked, so we had to navigate a new path out. Secondly and perhaps more seriously was that the car park and the climbing arena close at the same time and the only route out of the car park was now blocked by a large iron gate. After making a few phone calls to the security company we managed to successfully escape without losing too much time. I guess it wouldn't be as fun if everything went to plan!

Eagle Ridge - Lochanagar

As exams (finally) came to a close I found myself desperate to get into the mountains and kick the mountain trad season off once again. Unfortunately if you've payed any attention to the weather of late you would've seen that we had a second winter in April. Meaning all of the mountains I wanted to climb were now under snow. I searched around for an awesome looking route in a snow free that was both fast drying and long. The one that fit those criterion best was the ultra classic Eagle ridge (S) (reputed to be the best ridge climb in Scotland).

Now another problem arose, originally Joe was supposed to be my partner in crime for this little escapade but unfortunately his face had swollen up like a balloon because of the plague and naturally was unable to come along. After posting on the STAUMC facebook page another partner in the form of a burly German named Ron appeared. Plans were solidified and after an early start we were on our way to Ballater to begin the "2 and a half hour" walk in.

Lochnagar just visible over the saddle

A pleasant surprise!

The supposed 2 and a half hour walk in was demolished in one and a half, and we were at the routes base by half 10. To reach the routes base we needed to traverse across a fairly large patch of snow which seemed reluctant to leave the corrie.

Lochanagar; fairly free of snow. Eagle ridge is the second from the left

Eagle Ridge

Lochanagar Panorama

Due to the snow patch we didn't actually begin climbing at the routes official start, instead started way right and traversed through choss and heather to reach the initial sections of the route. Ron took the first lead through the loose rock and I was quickly at the belay with him. The first proper pitch of climbing followed a right trending v-groove upwards which lead into a chock stone filled chimney directly above. I happily discovered that the belay was a large thread around a block so I was able to very quickly begin bringing Ron up.

Ron attacking pitch one

Royal Deeside from the belay

We quickly changed around gear and Ron was off up the third pitch which trended back rightwards over easy ground. The route was easy to follow as crampon scratches were visible all over the rock so getting lost would require a huge lack of attention. For my second pitch we decided it would be more fun to ignore the crampon scratches and head up a shallow groove the climbing wasn't difficult, but bold and exposed with no gear. I chose to belay just at the start of the most exposed section of the route with steep drops on either side. Ron took the 5th and probably the most spectacular pitch of the route (though the climbing was awesome at all times). It involved seriously exposed climbing on a very thin ridge line, the intimidation factor was ramped up significantly by the sounds of cornice collapses in the gullies around us.

A bit washed out, but oh well.

After Ron's smooth lead of the penultimate pitch it was down to me to finish off the route. A second exposed pitch lead interestingly up blocky terrain to the Lochnagar plateau above. Upon topping out we decided we may as well go to the top of Lochnagar to bag the Munro seeing as it was only 2 minutes walk around the corrie.

The final slab of Eagle Ridge

Summit panorama, Royal Deeside lain out before me

Proof!

Once again we quickly descended off the top of Lochnagar, finding it easier to run than walk back downhill as this hurt our knees less (I'm getting old). The walk back out took us roughly an hour and a half again. From car to car the day took us 6 hours. 1.5 hours for the walk each way, 2 hours on the route and then an hour of standing around.

Climbing Eagle ridge came at an interesting time in my life, Many things have recently come to an end including my first year at university, which I have greatly enjoyed thanks to the climbing, the maths and especially the company I've spent it with. The time spent at belays allowed me to reflect fully on my year in the tranquil beauty of the mountain environment. I realised all good thing come to an end so that even better things can be found around the next corner of life. 

Corny huh? this is what happens when I'm left alone with my thoughts at a juncture in my life.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28"