Ben Lomond winter hike?

[John Peterson]

Anyone done Ben Lomond in the winter? What route would you recommend? Thinking about going sometime in the next week.

[rwpontius]

Looking up at Ben I've wondered about trying it in midwinter too but decided against it. Early in the spring when there is still a fair amount of snow I usually head straight up the ridge rather than trying the east slope part of the trail. There is more or less a trail through there to the ridge crest. At that point I generally stay on the ridge crest up to where the trail crosses over from the east to the west side of the ridge. Just north of the crossover point the trees accumulate snow and might be tricky at this time of year. As I recall the ridge crest ends in a cliff making it impractical to continue that way although there might be a route with some searching. Some areas on the west side see, to accumulate snow on up to Baily Springs Junction but unless it is steep enough to slide probably not a big deal on snowshoes. Above BS Junction climb/traverse to the SE ridge of the summit cone. The wind blows the snow free here and it isn't too bad (at least in the spring) to follow a trail up to the summit. Especially in areas of open terrain I'd be thinking about avalanches. I believe I've crossed old avalanches in the spring so avoiding them is another plus for heading to the ridge above the switchbacks. None of this is really winter hiking info but extrapolating from spring hikes.
RP

[goofball]

lots of info here on ben lomond - http://www.summitpost.org/ben-lomond/152185

[ahansen60]

A couple years ago in January I snowshoed to the saddle just below the peak and spent the night with a couple friends. It's a butt kicker but it's all worth it when you get to the top. I'm sure it would be an even better view from the peak. When we went, the snow conditions were just too risky for avalanches to go that last stretch to the peak. If you are going to do it I would suggest taking Cutler Ridge all the way up. It is the steepest of all the routes, as far as the route itself goes. But the other alternate routes are cut in perpendicular on much steeper, more avalanche prone slopes. I hope that makes sense. With how little snow we've gotten so far this year, you will probably have no problems making it to the peak.