For all serving and ex members of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service

Climbing In The Cairngorms

Seven Articles About Climbing In The Cairngorms

Polyphemus Gully

It was our first time at Lochnagar and conditions were thin. There was only a thin covering of snow and no ice to speak of. We wanted to do Eagle Ridge but were still frightened of its grade V cachet. 

We opted to do Polyphemus Gully instead. It was still a grade IV but, being a gully, would probably hold more ice. How wrong we were! The gully held only snow!  It was Nick Clements’ first winter route! 

What an induction he was to have. I’ve got a picture of him after the first pitch and he looks exhausted. That he led the second pitch, and kept on leading alternate pitches after that, is much to his credit. He was a good climber on rock and he looked like becoming a good climber on ice: enough about my partner and let’s go to the route. The first pitch was about 80 degree snow on rock. It left me no choice but to attack it face on. It was a very insecure pitch and tested my resolve thoroughly. 

Nick led the next pitch, which was equally hard and we came the crux. More sustained than hard, this was a corner that required good axe technique as it involved intricate camming. The gully becomes less steep now but we carried on pitching it to the top. 

We reached the top. It was just getting dark as we descended to the forestry road. Nick had been introduced to winter climbing and what an introduction. All said, a route that was out of condition that tested our mettle thoroughly. We had visited Lochnagar, had done a fine route and we were very pleased with our day. It almost made the drive worthwhile.

A Winter Ascent of Route Major on Carn Etchachan

 I rang Nick Clements on the Thursday night. The conversation went something like this. “I hear there’s snow in the Cairngorms”, I said. “Best we go climbing then”, he replied. “I’ll take my car and I’ll pick you up Saturday morning”, I countered. “OK, I’ll be ready”.

The die was cast; we were going to do something on Carn Etchachan. 

Route Major looked good, it was a long grade IV, but first we had to cross the Cairngorm Plateau. This is a windy place at the best of times. When we reached the Cairngorm car park, it was blowing a gale! We decided to try it anyway; the walk would do us good, if nothing else. We battled across the plateau and descended Corrie Raibert. At the base of the crag all was still. We decided to give it a go.

The route goes up and left, before moving right. The first two pitches are up two leftwards-leaning snow ramps. Easy ground which we soloed with impunity. We roped up for the first of the difficulties.

The first difficult pitch is up a corner, which I led; not too hard this, until a good belay is found. Then there are two pitches straight up, followed by a left-leaning crucial corner, before the exit gully is reached.

We reached the exit gully just as night was falling and it was fully dark by the time we finished the route. Once on top, we put on our head torches but didn’t need them - there was enough snow-glow to light our way. We just headed North-North West, from the top of Carn Etchachan. Then, when we had climbed onto the plateau, we took a bearing North-East until we hit the ridge between Coire-Ant-Sneachda and Coire-An -Lochan and followed the ridge Eastwards from there. We were very glad when the Cairngorm ski lift loomed out of the darkness. The Cairngorm plateau is a lonely place at night. 

A lot of ghosts were laid to rest that night. It was the first time that I’d crossed the Cairngorm Plateau at night but it wasn’t so bad. You mustn’t be benighted on a route. That also wasn’t so bad. We’d had a good day on a good route.

False Scorpion 

We, Nick Clements and I, planned to do Scorpion that weekend. By a chance happenstance it was cloudy and we couldn’t find the start. False Scorpion - climbed after Scorpion - which is immortalised as a first ascent in “One Man’s Mountains”, Tom Patey’s book, forms a direct start. It was a weekend in December when, one morning, we crossed the plateau and descended Coire Raibert. 

We couldn’t find the start to Scorpion but the start to False Scorpion is obvious, so we thought we’d do that instead. The climb is on the left side of the gully between Carn Etchachan and the Shelterstone.

Conditions were poor with lots of soft snow and no ice. Verglas coated every rock. All said it didn’t look good! We roped up and I led off. I quickly gained height and got a spike belay. It was Nick’s turn now, and he led, without any problems, to a peg belay.

Here the route joins Scorpion and I led to below a steep wall. The route is less obvious here, and it wasn’t until Nick had demolished the snow in front of the wall that a deep chimney was revealed. He struggled up this, and the wall after this, to a ledge and a chock belay.

We were close to the top now, a fact that manifested itself in the clearer air. 

I led up an easier gully and got a good spike belay. Now comes the sting in the tail. It takes the form of a verglassed step, which Nick led without any problem. Now an easy traverse right brings you to the top of the cliff and it’s only a short distance to the summit of Carn Etchachan. 

It was dark now, but the crossing of the Faithe Bhuide and the plateau held no terrors, and the promised epic didn’t materialise. We had a quick drink in Aviemore to celebrate our first grade V in the Cairngorms. 

Savage Slit 

We, Nick Clements and I, were at a loss. Which route next? 

It was February and conditions were excellent for mixed climbing, there being lots of snow but little ice. The rock did, however, have a thick patina of verglas. We had done Red Guard on Carn Etchachan last weekend and did not fancy the long walk in. I had not visited Coire An Lochan since my mountain rescue team winter course days so we decided to have a look-see there.

The walk in was longer than I remembered and it was 12 o’clock before we started climbing. The guidebook says four hundred and forty feet and we planned to do it in three long pitches. It’s short, but technically hard. The routes on Carn Etchachan are longer, at about eight hundred feet, but less sustained and more remote.

Nick led the first pitch, a leftwards-facing chimney/corner, which he managed to bridge. I led the second pitch, which was also a chimney, up which I struggled manfully, getting inside it and fighting, tooth and nail, until I got to the top.

The third pitch was another chimney with which Nick fought, threading a chock-stone, before finishing just below the summit. All that was left was a short, easy pitch and we were on the summit. A wind had got up and a thaw had set in. 

We wouldn’t be winter climbing in the near future. It was nice reaching the Cairngorm car park while it was still light. We drove home well satisfied with our day. 

Amphitheatre Gully 

We had looked for a long time at Amphitheatre Gully on Stac Na Fahraid, and wondered what it’d be like to climb it. It can be viewed from Carn Etchachan where I had already completed three routes; False Scorpion, Red Guard and Route Major. I had done Route Major three times and always wondered what Amphitheatre Gully was like.

Phil Caesley and I decided to try it one February morning and we made the long traversed to the gully base. Conditions were OK - not brilliant, but there was a good covering of snow and verglas on the rocks.

The first pitch jinked right then left and was mixed. This pitch ended in a chock belay. The rest of the route looked hard. Phil led the second pitch, which went up a snow slope to belay at the bottom of the corner. It formed the left bounding wall of the amphitheatre and was the crux.

I took my time over the corner, savoring the situation and finding it quite hard. It was mixed climbing at its very best - deserved to be lingered over, and linger over it I did. When I brought Phil up, it was already getting dark and we still hadn’t reached the top. Phil reached the top on the next pitch.

We coiled the ropes in the darkness and discovered that we didn’t have a Cairngorm map. We had been climbing on Ben Nevis and we’d forgotten to change maps. We didn’t have a compass either, but it was a clear night and you could see the Plough and the North Star, so we just headed for that until we reached the ridge and followed it round. It was a relieved pair of climbers who saw the first ski lifts in Coire Cas. 

Sticil Face

 It was cold and conditions were good, but thin, when we climbed Sticil Face. 

It was early March when I drove my newly acquired Lada Niva down to Aviemore. We had started late, at eight o’clock, and that meant, when you take the slow progress of my Lada into account, that we didn’t leave the Cairngorm car park until ten.

The route was on the Shelterstone Crag, the neighbouring cliff to Carn Etchachan and I’d done the walk-in many times before. I had climbed on the Shelterstone twice before, both times in summer. Once, when we had done The Pin and various other routes and once when we’d done a VS, with a view to doing a winter ascent, but I’d never climbed on it in winter.

The first pitch is more awkward than hard and involves a mantle-shelf, trending right. I led this pitch leaving Phil to do the second, which meant that I had the third, which was the crux. Phil led his pitch with no problems leaving me the third.

It was steep slab of bubbly ice, which led to a good chock belay. My Chacal and Barracuda were excellent on this pitch, providing good placements and excellent security.

Above was a corner, which looked hard. Phil scraped the snow off with his ice axe to reveal a perfectly placed foothold. Camming with his axes he soon climbed it.
From here the route traverses right, across the crag, to a deep chimney. We moved together roped for this section, always conscious of the drop below our feet. It got dark here, and we put on head torches at the next belay.

The chimney gave two pitches of excellent climbing, interrupted by me getting a chock stuck in a downward facing crack. I led the last pitch to exit on flat ground.
We crossed the Faithe Bhuide and the plateau, which held no terrors for us, giggling with glee at having done such a fine route.

The Cairngorm Car park was all but deserted. There were just a few cars and, wonder of wonders, the Lada started first time. We stopped in Aviemore for a beer and met members of the Kinloss MRT, and stayed the night with them.

The next morning there was a thaw and we returned home well satisfied with having climbed Sticil Face. 

Eagle Ridge Of Lochnagar 

We had spent the night sleeping in my Lada Niva at the Spittal Of Glenshee. 

At first light we started walking on our second visit to Lochnagar.

On our first visit, one month before, we had climbed Polyphemus Gully, a grade IV, in thin conditions.

We, Nick Clements and I, had our hearts set on doing Eagle Ridge, a grade V this time. We had driven down the night before, had a drink in Ballater. When we first saw the cliff that morning, it was apparent that conditions were thin. Closer inspection, however, revealed a thin covering of snow on all horizontal surfaces, and enough verglas to make it interesting.

We roped up and I led the first pitch. 

It was a slabby corner and I led it without any problems. That I was not on route became apparent at the end of the pitch when I found an easier gully coming up from the side. The ridge now had plenty of ice and snow on it, obligatory for a claimed winter ascent. Nick led off on the thinning ridge, avoiding an overhang and belaying on the crest.

I led through, keeping to the crest of the ridge and belayed in a niche below a tower.

Nick led on, the crucial “sentry box” never materialised and he surmounted the tower without too much difficulty. In a further three pitches and some unroped climbing, we were on the summit of Lochnagar. It was a fine evening and it was just getting dark as we descended the forestry track.

I think we so forgot ourselves as to shake hands.

We went for a drink in Ballater before the four-hour drive home. 

Andy Watkins 10 June 2010

All documents, webpages, photographs and images are copyright material and are the property of RAFMRA - RAFMRS and/or the respective Authors and Photographers (where attributed) who have allowed their work to be published on the RAFMRA website. Permission is required to copy, download or use any text, photographic or image files. For individual or professional use of any content contained within this Website, contact the site Webmaster for permission. 

© RAFMRA 2010