The Glacier Descent
After the obligatory summit photo we returned to the Rifugio, donned our crampons again and set out across the ice into what seemed like a void. After a little, the ice became snow and the path more distinct, taking us steeply down the edge of the ridge. It was amazing how quickly my condition improved once we started descending. By the time we reached the downclimb I felt perfectly normal again. Off with crampons and over the edge. Part way down, at the top of a more difficult section, we caught up with the masses! A fifteen minute stop ensued whilst we waited for the people ahead of us to abseil down. We judged a rope unnecessary and downclimbed it with relative ease.

At the bottom, it was crampons on again. Progress across the glacier was swift. With so many people, the path was clear and easy to follow although crevasses forced it to take a convoluted route to avoid them. At one point it was barely half a metre wide where it bridged between two sizeable crevasses. We quickly reached the moraine at the bottom and made the mistake of removing crampons too early. We thought we were on the scree but in fact it was solid ice covered in a thin layer of loose stones. We both promptly fell on our backsides but were not the only ones making the same mistake!! By 4:45pm we were back at the cable ‘baskets’ and returned, this time making sure we  went in separate baskets, to the valley below. It was a truly fantastic day.

More photos at http://www.daly.co.uk/john/holiday/dolomites2004