What's going up in da 'gar?

From the Meikle Pap col, the corrie of Lochnagar opens out to the North East to give a huge amphitheatre of snow and rock. The corrie presents itself into two distinct sections; the southern sector where the small buttresses cling precariously to the corrie rim and the main event, the northern sector where the cliffs are up to 250m high and provide some of the finest winter challenges in Scotland.

If the weather is agreeable and it often not, the col makes a great vantage point to catch your breath, have a sandwich and marvel at the handiwork of ancient glaciers and an unimaginable number of winter storms. The most prominent landmark on the main cliffs is the much more recent rock scar of the once proud Parallel Gully B, which gives a splash of colour and monochrome of dark granite against the white snow.

My first experience of Lochnagar was suitably memorable and started with a cramped sleepless Hogmanay night in my mum's car with only two cans of "Red Death" and my brother for company - neither of which were that agreeable. We celebrated the New Year with an ascent of the super classic Shadow Buttress A Original Route (III, 4). The climb went reasonably smoothly considering our teenage inexperience but just as we were topping-out, Lochnagar hit out with some of the most extraordinary wind the like of which I have rarely seen since. Fearful of losing one another on the unfamiliar mountainous slopes, we stayed roped together; the wind straining our thin umbilical cord. Probably more down to luck than skilled micro-navigation, we gained the Alt-na-guibhsaich and wearily made out way back to the car.

Not to be put off by such malevolent weather, I have returned many times to Lochnagar and now living in Aberdeen it has become the local venue, even accessible in the long spring days for an evening's skiing down the gullies or a solo of Eagle Ridge. It is difficult to recommend particular routes that stand out, since every route I have climbed has been memorable and worthwhile.

>> The trump card - the Tough-Brown Face. Home to hard thin ice routes. Pic: Guy Robertson See Larger Pic

For an easy day out, the routes in the southern sector of the corrie, although short are very enjoyable. The best route here Magic Pillar (IV, 5) is found on the central trio of short buttresses known as The Cathedral and gives unlikely climbing with a cheeky sidestep to a large foothold just when it appears to be getting that bit harder. The open slopes of the Red Spout (I) provide a very easy introduction to the delights of snow climbing and rarely has a cornice. For those who like adrenaline, the Red Spout makes great open free-riding ski descent to the loch some 300m below.

But for any visitor to Lochnagar, it will be to the gullies and buttresses of the northern sector, which provide the main focus. Any owner of "Cold Climbs" will be familiar with the classics and I have the lasting memory of Patey pictured on the first winter ascent of Parallel Buttress, "totally clapped out due to inadequate clothing".

Parallel Buttress despite its rich history is perhaps not as worthy as some of the less well-known routes on the mountain. If you are keen for some Lochnagar buttress action, why not try this aesthetic combination on Shadow Buttress B - start up Raeburn's Groove then take a rising traverse right to join Bells Route just where it starts to get hard and interesting, worth (VI, 6) overall.

Continuing on the Cold Climbs theme, I found Pinnacle Face to be a little disappointing and after the first two pitches, the climb loses much of its character and rambles by an indeterminate line of weakness to the summit of the pinnacle. A better line by far at this grade would be the nearby Route 2 (VI, 6) which gives amazing exposure and is sustained and technical at the crux.

Of the gullies there are the obvious targets of Polyphemus Gully (V, 5), with the difficulty of the crux - the first pitch - being entirely dependant on the quality and quantity of the ice build up. A slightly easier but equally good gully line is Giant's Head Chimney (IV, 4), which starts up an enclosed chimney, then traverses underneath a steep buttress to gain the upper and typically very icy fault line. When in good condition and not banked out with snow, Parallel Gully A (III) gives a long and sustained first pitch of ice, followed by shorter steps to the obligatory cornice, which can usually be turned on the left.

>> Is this the future? Chris Cartwright looks into it. Pic: Simon Richardson See Larger Pic

Despite the dominance of the Northern Corries as a forging ground for hard technical mixed climbing, Lochnagar does have a few climbs to rival (if not better) anything in the Corries. The Mantichore/Footloose connection gives a fine exercise in torquing and is as pumpy on the calves as it is on the arms. Watch out though for the "mantle of justice" near the top of the second pitch - it is very delicate and quite run out at that point. Other routes such as Quasimodo (VII, 8) are good examples of the modern mixed genre.

There may be some who would argue against the exulted status that I have bestowed on Lochnagar but in my defence I would play my trump card - the Tough-Brown face. Although not particularly impressive looking from below, or steep (from some angles it looks positively slab like), there are few areas like it which have such a concentration of hard thin ice routes. The nebular ice is shy and alluring, formed not by a watercourse but by snow melting on the ledges and dribbling down the slabs and blank corners to be frozen in place by our good friend Jack Frost.

On the periphery of the face, Crypt (VI, 7) - which luckily escaped annihilation in the nearby rock-fall - and the turfy Tough Guy (VII,7) are delicious appetisers for the harder routes in the middle of the face. Recent history has shown that all these hard routes benefit from icy conditions and are all fine examples of bold, committing Scottish winter climbs. The notable exception to the ice requirement is Rolling Thunder, which was climbed with little ice but with, would probably be easier, but even more serious as what little gear there is could well be hidden.