All my flying near cloud is at lower level ridges in Scotland, and my higher altitude ridge crossings in US were cloud-free.
I take it you knew which side the downdrafts would be on.
I take it you were prepared for steep descending 180 turn.
You could see what you were flying into. It's your choice how confident you are in the cloud forming and downdraft predictions.
But I'd never take my attention off what's happening around me to take photos in that sort of situation. And I'd like to fly around near the ridge before going that close, to confirm wind effects.