Bristly Ridge is one of the classic scrambles of the Ogwen Valley and one that we’d not been up in a while, so, somewhat on and whim and despite a marginal weather forecast, decided to go for it.

Clouds were ‘lingering’ in the air, but there was barely a breath of wind, which gave a rather spooky atmosphere as we entered ‘Sinister Gully’ at the base of the route, just as the clouds fully descended.

All views were soon lost and the rock soon became damp and rather slippery in the misty conditions as we cautiously followed the crest of the ridge.

Inside the cloud, all sound was muted and with no one around, and no view to see, we quietly carried on upwards.

As we neared the summit, the mist turned to light rain, but the abscence of any wind, meant that we still sat and had a picnic on the summit rocks! All thoughts of continuing higher were out voted in favour of a quick descent and return to The Cottage!

Tryfan’s south ridge loomed out of the mist as we descended the scree paths…

And over on the far side of the valley, the clouds were filling the cwms.

It was cool to see the higher ground clearly, and the cwm brimming with clouds below…

The whole adventure took just over three hours. We ‘passed’ on the swim option on the way home and we direct to warm showers!