April 20, 2011, Monte Pasquale (Ortler)

Moving day today so the packs were heavy, and again I got whipped by the altitude.  After skinning up 550m to the Casati Hut, I felt like bailing for lower altitudes, maybe even sea level Seattle.  A phone call to Alfred revealed that Wolfgang would be in the area for the next few days, and then out on the deck of the hut I ran into another Innsbruck friend Lizi.  Heartened by these contacts, fueled with some needed liquid, and encouraged by the rest of the team, I joined the partial descent of the Cedec Glacier and climb to Pasquale col.

While the others made the final 150m ascent, I napped, and then joined Rob and Josh for the sloppy descent to Branca Hut while Grego and Mark skied from the summit.  At the hut I met yet another friend, Scortsch, since it seems everyone was in the Ortler now because of low snow elsewhere in the Alps.