Sunrise at Ben Lomond from near the descent into Coire a' Bhathaich

With some warmer weather on the horizon it felt like it was now or never for having another go at climbing on Ben Lomond. We'd walked up there in early December and been confronted with very marginal conditions, despite several days of freezing winds and snowfall. In the end, it took nearly three weeks of subzero temperatures to freeze the turf and form up some good snow & ice. 

The plumb line of the crag which is positioned on the gloomy north side of Ben Lomond is without doubt the compelling Lomond Corner (IV,5), situated on the left of B Buttress. The easiest way to reach the corner is to walk up the summit path to a bealach, which is ~300 m before the summit. From here a steep grassy slope can be descended under the imposing A Buttress into Coire a' Bhathaich. Around to the left is Pioneer A Buttress, which along with many folk before us had been confused with A Buttress. From the descent Lomond Corner gradually comes into view and is probably the best feature to use to work out the rest of the crag. Its worth noting that the start of the corner is at ~750-800 m and is sheltered to all but the coldest north westerly winds, so if conditions aren't good when descending from the bealach you'd be best abandoning the corner for a more exposed climb on Pioneer A Buttress which is more likely to be climbable. 

Looking up the first pitch of Lomond Corner (IV,5) with the fantastic upper pitch visible beyond

Seb seconding the fantastic main pitch of Lomond Corner

The easy lower corner has a few steep vegetated steps but is otherwise pretty uneventful and leads to a belay that needs a lot of searching out (good nut overhead). The upper corner is definitely the main event and provides a huge 60 m pitch up the right angled corner using turf, rock and snow. The difficulties low down are reasonably well protected and soon ease with height. The crux is maybe 10 m off the belay where the turf thins to a steep slab and the vertical wall on the left pushes overhead slightly. This section had some useful ice and good solid blobs of frozen turf in the back of the crack but even then my partner who seconded the pitch thought the grade could easily be IV,6. Above, the angle relents, but is essentially without protection and those with shorter ropes hoping to take a belay before the top would really struggle to find anything meaningful.     

Lomond Corner definitely deserves a few stars and is worth seeking out, but only after a substantial freeze.   

Seb seconding a tricky step on Shoogleniftt (III,3)

Grooves and turf all in great icy condition

Watching the moon rise over Loch Lomond certainly makes getting up so early feel worth it 

And if you're wondering... Ben Lomond is within Stirlingshire, the county where my climbing partner and I both live.