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"