by litljortindan » Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:08 pm
I also first walked to Lochnagar from Dundee. It was in the summer of 1991 when I joined a friend his his pals for a trip there. I seem to recall that we approached from the west but I can't remember too well. I do recall a brief glimpse of a waterfall of cloud toppling over a hillside but then zero visibility at the summit. Like a bus, my second visit arrived shortly afterwards when I got a surprise knock on the door and I was urged to join two friends on their trip there. That was definitely an ascent via the more conventional route from Loch Muick. I recall that my tall friend struggled on the steeper ground whilst we others appeared to him as mountain goats springing from rock to rock ahead.
Five years passed before I next visited. On that occasion an ill-judged late summer's afternoon plan saw me and my companion enjoy a pleasant if uneventful walk. However, we descended to an empty car park and, having hitch-hiked to get there, this left us with a long Sunday walk to Ballater and a bus home.
Those first three visits had largely bypassed the splendour of Lochnagar's cliffs which I only really appreciated after my 2014 visit to view the sunrise. At that time I had given up on scrambling due to back problems but I had taken to following cliff edges as a substitute and that led me to follow the edge of Lochnagar very closely and I was amazed at the drama of the cliffs that I had missed out on during those first three visits. On the other hand, I didn't actually visit the summit so can I say that I walked up to Lochnagar?
My latest and possibly last visit was last year. It was minus seven Celsius at the Loch Muick carpark. The air was very clear but despite the temperature I was soon sweating my way up the path at the west end of Loch Muick, not feeling confident about tackling the steeper route in possibly icy conditions. Again, I chose to wander round the coire edge without visiting the summit.
So Lochnagar has changed in my mind from being a convenient if unremarkable hill to a grand ampitheatre of cliffs.
If my knees permit maybe I will manage another visit or two. I would go just to admire the cliffs and/or to view the sunrise.