Our second Ortler ski tour this year was in the company of a great crew of friends, if not all of them before the trip, definitely all afterwards! A highly medical team as it happened; 6 doc types and one who could play one on T.V. if she wanted; we felt ready for any medical emergency! More importantly, everyone was fun, kind, smart, and good looking. Oh, and darn good skiers too.

From left to right: Patsy, Peter, Ralph, Jack, Jeff, Brian, Mark and Kathy. On the other side of the lens, Phillip (not shown).

Day 1: heavy fog and snow as we start out from the ski area at Sulden.

Day 2: entirely different conditions as we head out from the Marteller hut!

Sunrise as we hop onto the Cevedale glacier.

Heavily wind-featured slopes on Cevedale.

We descended lovely sheltered snow onto the Cedec glacier.

And were lucky enough to have stable powder AND first tracks on an epic descent!

Brian ripping it up!

And Patsy likes it too.

The strudel at the Pizzini hut also gets a thumbs up.

From the Branca hut, we start out on our tour of day 3.

The ever-receding but always impressive tongue of the Forni glacier deserves a short side trip to check it out up close.

Today we head up toward San Mateo. The tracks from the previous day show us the quality of the snow, and there's still some room to fit in some turns of our own.

Which we do!

And do...

And do some more!

On day four, we plan a trip up to find some untracked snow on San Giaccomo.

Another stellar slope with great snow.

Stacking them up nicely!

Further down, we're still finding nice snow in sheltered gullies.

Harbingers of a change in the weather? Claw clouds race by.

day 5: WIND!!! It catches us before we get back to the hut.

Safely back in the hut, Patsy rewards herself with some very photo-worthy blueberry pie and capuccino!

Day 5, it's time to head over to the Pizzini hut. Mustering at the Branca...

Mark and a couple of the lads headed back up to San Giaccomo for another go-round en route.

Worth the effort!

Even the choss is worth it.

In the Pizzini hut! Happy faces all around.

Day 6, we head out for a short tour. The weather is great, but after several days of howling winds in this area, the snow is not promising.

Heading toward the Col Pale Rosse.

Reveling in the views from a small but airy summit.

And a spectacular sunset from the hut at dinner time!

Hut living at the Pizzini.

Day 7, sadly our exit day, we leave the Pizzini hut behind.

Booting it up the last few yards to the Passo del Cevedale.

We pay a lunchtime visit to the Cevedale hut.

Soup, pasta and the inevitable capuccino, with heart.

Then it's onward over the Cima di Solda.

Cevedale looking beautiful, if wind-scoured, behind.

And it's down, down down! Mark sussing out the possibilities...

And finding quite a few!

Ah, that's pretty nice!

We added our little bit of "graffiti" to this snowy wall. No worries, soon another snowfall will wipe it all clean for the next comers. Thank you to an exceptionally congenial and pretty darn fun group! We do hope to see you all again soon.