Photographs, route description and map of an ascent of Ben Lomond and descent by the NW Ridge and Ptarmigan in the Southern Highlands of Scotland

Route Description for Ben Lomond

Location: Stirlingshire
Grade: Moderate mountain walk
Distance: 7 miles / 12km
Time: 5-7 hours

Ben Lomond is prone to such sudden blasts of weather — she raises her beacon on the edge of the Highland line and offers the ﬁrst point of resistance to any weather systems coming in from the south-west.
While Ben Nevis is generally acknowledged as “The Ben”, that particular nickname, as far as Glaswegians are concerned, goes to Ben Lomond, a Munro that can be seen from the city, just as the city can be seen from Ben Lomond’s summit.
As I tramped up through the Rowardennan woods, relishing the wind surﬁng through the oaks, birches and larches and appreciating the well laid path, I thought of the National Trust for Scotland with gratitude rather than the seom the charity appears to suffer from these days.
It is the NTS to thank for the well maintained footpath that runs up the hill from the Halfway Well, a path that marches resolutely north up the long ridge of mica-schist that falls away from the summit cone. Not everyone likesthese cobbled trails but not that long ago this path was ten metres wide, a swathe of mud and peat, ever-widening as more and more walkers tried to avoid the morass in the middle.
Any notion of sterile amenity is balanced by the fact that the hill has gradually healed itself, regenerating and growing to the edges of the path.
In an amazingly short time the former muddy scar has been replaced by a narrow footpath — far preferable to what was there before.
Eventually the path zig-zags up the ﬁnal slopes to reach a kilometre-long curved ridge from which cliffs fall away to the northeast. The summit cairn and view indicator lie at the north-west culmination of this ridge and in clear conditions the views are dramatic. The tops of the Arrochar Alps and Crianlarich hills appear to choke the northern end of Loch Lomond, a real jumble of peaks that clearly contrasts with the flatlands in the south — the highlands and the lowlands, with Ben Lomond acting as the Highland edge.
Most folk return to Rowardennan the way they came but a good alternative is to continue north over the summit and then down steeper slopes to the subsidiary top known as the Ptarmigan.
The descent of the Ptarmigan ridge is always a treat with its views of the archipelago of islands at the southern end of the loch.

Map: OS 1:50,000 Landranger Sheet 56 ( Loch Lomond & lnveraray ); Harvey's 125,000 Superwalker Map, Ben Lomond & Loch Katrine.
Distance: 7 miles / 12km
Time: 5-7 hours
Start / ﬁnish: Rowardennan car park ( GR: NS360985 )
Public transport: None to the start.
Information: National Park Centre, Balmaha, 01389 722100, info@lochlomond-trossachs.org
Route: A well signposted footpath climbs through the woods from the car park at Rowardennan.
Follow this path onto the S ridge of Ben Lomond and follow the path and the ridge N to the summit.
Descend N, then W to gain the Ptarmigan ridge.
Follow the ridge S to the Tom Fithich burn, which is followed to the West Highland Way track.
Follow the track S to Rowardennan.