In reply to girlymonkey:
> Do you think so? That's not my impression, but it's hard to tell.
Impossible to really tell of course, but I reckon at least 75% of all ascents are made up/down the main path without deviation, quite possibly 80% - the proportion seems to have increased since the main path was done up. Hardly any of those people take the direct finish up the little nose, so they all arrive at the trig/cairn end of the summit ridge - and hardly ever stray along it. If coming from the north/Lossburn side, the summit outcrop is naturally in play (although even then most people seem to skirt up by a few yards), but with the Menstrie route again it tends to be just trig/cairn for most people. Russell would have a better feel for this than I do, given that he's up there much more often. Ditto Andrea Priestley (almost certainly 5000+ ascents) but I don't think she's on here.
Do you use the "parallel path" much? The one that runs parallel to and north of the main path? I quite often go down that, having come up from Lossburn. Not sure when I last went up the main path from the start (ie not just joining it at the Yellowcraig/race junction); suspect it was a day in November 2010 when I'd been up from Menstrie in the morning and contrived to lose a hat, so went back at night by the standard route to (unsuccessfully) look for it!