Eagle soaring over Stob Ban

For Nick and Allan’s final day, we decided to play it safe after the rapid build up of fresh wind-blown snow over the past 24 hours, and headed to Stob Ban to climb the brilliant East Ridge of the North Buttress. I was hoping to follow a trail through the snow this morning, but no such luck, but we did spot what I thought a juvenile Golden Eagle soaring above the East Ridge, which was quite a majestic sight.

After a fair bit of wading, we reached the foot of the East Ridge, and made our way up the numerous tricky steps and sections of exposed ridge, all of which were covered in deep snow. The climbing is never particularly difficult, although some variation is possible on a number of the steeper rocky steps, however, the route flows nicely, is great fun and tops out on the north top of Stob Ban, a short distance from the main summit. With Nick and Allan making the drive back down south this evening, we made a sharp right turn at the top, and made our way down the north ridge.