A group of friends living in the UK joined us for an Ortler trip this year. This was their first hut-to-hut ski mountaineering tour, though they'd all done lots of off-piste and heli-ski adventures.

"The gang", from left to right: Greg Conway, Drake Dubin, Michiel Bakker, Erik Wetter and Jose Brena.

On day 1, we stop for a coffee at the Zufallhütte on our way to the Marteller Hut.

Cold winds, ground blizzard conditions, and wind-blasted snow were our constant and challenging companions on this trip! Here we head up toward Cevedale on day 2.

The wind and poor visibility caused us to by-pass the summit of Cevedale on this leg of the journey, and take a safer and easier-to-navigate route over the Passo del Cevedale (after a restoring strudel and cappuccino in the lonely Casati hut of course!).

Warming our chilled back sides in the comfy Branca hut, and deciding what to eat and drink.

On day 3 we decided to climb Pizzo Tresero. Shortly after leaving the hut, we found this irresistible feature at the toe of the glacier.

Sunny and for once relatively calm winds as we skin up toward the peak.

Snow this good was a bit tricky to find, to be honest! The wind had been hammering just about everywhere. But a few relatively sheltered pockets like this one, plus good skiing technique, made for some pretty turns on the descent.

We admire our tracks, looking back up at our descent route from the sunny terrace at the hut.

On to the Pizzini hut on day 4, we arrive as usual in time for lunch.

In the afternoon we made a lap up to the Col Pale Rosse. Greg copes manfully with the tricky snow on descent.

On our last day we finally get calm weather and warmer temperatures for our journey back to town. Here we skin up the Cevedale glacier.

Back over the Passo del Cevedale, we decide to go for the summit of the peak, since we didn't get to on our way in.

Leaving the Rifugio Casati behind, we head up toward the mountain. That is the Gran Zebru, behind.

Leaving our skis at a cache, we booted up the last couple hundred meters to the top.

Our arrival at the summit was cold, but definitely happy! The views and the clear sky conditions were all the reward we needed.

Over the top of the Cima di Solda, our gateway back to the flesh-pots of Sulden.

We reluctantly say good-bye to the high peaks, and head back down to civilization.