Route Major - Christmas Eve

Route Major is a near 300m route that zig zags it's way up the centre of the great North face of Carn Etchachan which towers above Loch Avon, one of the beauty spots of the Cairngorms. A Tom Patey route that was first mentioned to me by Dave some years ago and it has been in our sights since. We were always waiting for the combination of decent conditions and weather but much of the problem is that we are so easily lured away from the Cairngorms in such instances towards the glorious Northwest highlands. As chance would have everything seemed to line up for Christmas eve and we pencilled it in. It's quite a committing undertaking when you consider you have to walk over the plateau and drop down into the basin and then if you manage to finish the route you are at the wrong side of said basin and need to get yourself a long way back over some pretty high and complicated terrain, potentially doing much of this in darkness depending on how the climb goes.

Carn Etchachan with the Predawn sky

We left the Cairngorm Ski car park at 0600 and headed in towards Coire an t-Sneachda. It was a perfectly still morning. There would be no sign of the sun for a good hour or two given it was late December. This was a blessing though as we were beneath clear skies and a full moon which lit up the snowy world around us in a stunning fluorescent white. Below the bright planets and stars the shining white cliffs of the coire gave us a rare glimpse into the beauty of this place, almost certainly the busiest non pisted coire in Scotland but of course at this time, deserted. We cramponed up the goat track and stepped out onto a glowing plateau. The journey across the plateau was surreal, felt like we could be walking on the moon. By the time we reached the top of the descent into the basin the pre-dawn rainbow formed a ribbon above the horizon. We dropped into the boulder field and headed for the looming bulk of Carn Etchachan.

Carn Etchachan and the Shelterstone

We passed below the towering bastion of the Shelterstone and made for the start of Castlegates gully. From here Route Major follows a snowy ramp until a break cutting back on its self can be reached. Once this break has been climbed the route again changes direction through a tapering chimney which forms the crux of the route. Above this the Battlements groove is followed to the top. We geared up as the hills were bathed with the morning alpenglow then Dave ran out the ropes up the ramp. The ground was easy and there were tracks from an ascent a few days previous. I led up through the break to the foot of the crux where I found a strangely 'springy' peg in the rock. I neglected to use it in the belay! Dave led up and through the crux which looked hard from where I was standing. When my turn came to follow I of course had a rucksack to add to my troubles (we usually amalgamate them at the start so the leader can climb without a pack on). I found it very difficult being unable to use my back to aid progress but I got there in the end. A good lead by Dave.

Dave Leading the Crux

The next pitch entered the battlements groove. It was my lead and it consisted of mostly easy ground. I avoided the overhanging start of the groove as it wasn't in condition and brought Dave up. His pitch took us up an interesting corner into a final bay before what looked like the top.

Me setting off on the last pitch

I led the last enjoyable pitch up a couple of mixed steps and onward to the summit.

We walked out in glorious sunshine on what had become a perfect day. A final treat was the hills of Glenmore bathed in a deep red in the evening sun. It had taken us about 9 hours and 40 minutes car to car. Over half of this was spent getting there and back so we were very happy with the time it actually took us to climb the route and thanks to the moonlight, there was no need for headtorches!