April 23, 2011, Gran Zebru/Koenigspitz (Ortler)

We had been circling this ski touring crown of the Ortler for a week, now it was our turn to climb and ski it.  Again some of us used ski crampons on the shady morning hard snow, and again we were on the relaxed start program.   We ended up using boot crampons for over half of the ascent, carrying our skis to a depot about 150m from the summit.  Unfortunately, by the time our last member reached the summit, the clouds had enshrouded the mountain.  We found an interesting nearly buried (World War I?) hut near the summit, reminding us of Mt Adams in the Cascades.

Temperatures dropped enough to begin refreezing the snow on our way back to the depot, and the ski down ended up being a real test of skill and nerve on the 45 degree icy moguls from the hundreds who had skied it in sunny conditions over the past week.   The final 300m were actually nice and buttery lower angle skiing back to the hut.