KathyW said
I've cut all the switchbacks on Baden-Powell, but only when the mountain was covered with snow.
Ditto plus other places like below Trail Crest on Whitney with snow covering.
Fight On commented
... Very tempting on the way down.
During my first year of hiking, long long ago, I cut nearly every switch back thinking that they were like the longest way to get to somewhere and were made for old folks. I could go faster going straight up! Then on one outing some young hiker person, might have been Letty French if any of you know her, really laid into me about doing it. I thought about the situation and looked very carefully at the trail I was on and suddenly marveled at what it did. After that trip, if there was a trail I took it and if I wanted to scramble or climb I went somewhere else.
To make up for the damage I had done in the previous year, on every trail hike I did for awhile, I would shore up eroding places and obliterate places where switch backs were being cut (would take whatever time was needed to restore it to its natural looking state and not just do some makeshift looking thing that gets soon knocked away. I then got invited to trail maintenance/building parties and such. Even to this day, when I hike trails, I still move rocks on the tread of the trail to the side so others don't sprain an ankle or something while they're looking around at nature.
If snow completely covers an area and I'm not familiar with the trail I go where ever but once the trail starts to show, I really try to follow it otherwise later traffic frequently follows the tracks in the snow and causes trail degradation during this time...and I really feel like I'm hurting the mountain.