Ben Lomond via Ptarmigan Ridge.April 2011

The owner gave us permission to park here.

Entrance to the climb.

Not long before we  gained some height.

View of the Arrochar Alps.

Summit of Ben Lomond (974M)

It was gale force winds on the summit.

We were not alone!!

Well earned rest.

Still some snow around on the North face.



The brothers "Grim" comes to mind.



We all got a fresh egg to take home.

Today to escape "The Wedding" 3 of us from Ayr decided to climb Ben Lomond starting out from Rowardennan where 2 of the walkers today have family connections. Our route was to go up via the Ptarmigan route which is the steepest ascent . The day was very sunny but as we climbed the wind got up and we actually met some other walkers on their way down as they thought as it was so windy it was dangerous. We agreed it was not actually dangerous but care would have to be taken on the climbs. Once or twice we were actually blown off course but not at any of the particularly steep parts.Once over the Ptarmigan it was a very steep climb which also involved a bit of scrambling we found ourselves on the summit of Ben Lomond. Lots of other people had decided to escape the "telly" as it was very busy but most of them had climbed up using the normal tourist route.Once we had taken our lunch we descended back to the hotel by way of the tourist route and stopped many times to let other walkers past and to take in the wonderful scenery. Back at the hotel the owner gave us a conducted tour of his property and outlined his plans for the future of the  business. A special note to walkers of the West Highland Way is his plans to construct a  bunkhouse which would be an excellent idea considering the amount of through traffic he has from the walkers.A couple of very welcome pints were consumed not by the driver I hasten to add and armed with a new laid egg each we drove back to Ayr . Excellent walk and my thanks to the 2 brothers who accompanied me it was a very worthwhile day out.Now I must go and catch up on all the news about the wedding before I fall asleep.