Braich Ty Du Face, (Gd.2 Scramble)

Without much time for mountain based antics today, we took a quick trip along Ogwen's miniature alpine ridge on the west side of Pen yr Ole Wen. The road up to Ogwen Cottage was really busy with cars parked all along the side of the road for hundreds of metres. We found a sneaky space, then quickly left the crowds by following the small trail along to the start of the scramble. The views back towards The Cottage were great from this angle.

It was easy to find the start of the ridge, which was a bit steeper than I remembered and we probably should have brought a bit more safety kit with us! As it turned out, the exposure made things feel most dramatic, so keeping a cool head, we pressed on.

The route passes over some amazing dramatic spires and fins of rock - much like the jagged ridges of the Alps. Only much smaller!

We perched and tip-toed our way along the ridge.

Then made our own way up various rocky ribs, slabs and broken buttresses to join the main mountain path.

Before descending, we had great views across the valley to Tryfan. Rather than take in the summit, we returned to The Cottage for coffees, before heading out for the evening. It was only a two-hour round trip, but felt like we'd been out in the mountains all day. Good value!