After some stormy weather over the previous few days, the weekend of 3rd/4th Jan promised 70% chance of cloud-free Munros in the SE Highlands, so Lochnagar was calling us for the first proper route of this winter. Matt, Maria and I decided on Central Buttress, a 300m grade II route in amongst the impressive cliffs of the NE coire.
Walking into the coire - Central Buttress directly above Matt's head in this picture
The route started out with some nice easy soloing in amongst rock steps and frozen turf.
Some 'a cheval'
It then got a bit steeper, and a rope was suggested.
After climbing a mixture of rocky & turfy steps for about 100m, the route then levelled off into an arete with a couple of gendarmes.
There was then one more roped pitch up a groove just beyond the 2nd gendarme.
After this we put the rope away and soloed up the final 50m - 100m of easy ground leading to the plateau. Due to January's short daylight hours, and the fact we were climbing as a 3, the sun was going down by this point, but the sky was clear and the moon was nearly full, so it didn't really get dark...
There was only one thing to do after a great winter climb on Lochnagar, and that was to have a curry at Lochnagar Tandoori.....
A nice little Corbett near Pitlochry was identified for a Sunday morning wander. Ben Vrackie is a nice hill with good views, and only took us 3 hours, meaning we were back in York at the civilised time of 6pm.
