Laghetto dei Lastei del col del Vento. 2200m

Just me and my dog Kali. Torrid August day. Escaping to the cool solitude of Cima d'Asta will be good. Just two cars at Chiesetta di pront. I head cross country to try to make a beeline for the bivacco. The super-steep walk is entrancing, through moss-carpeted springy undergrowth, but I become tree-bound as there are lots of downed trees.
We're both thirsty and drink our fill at the bivacco trough. The sultry afternoon air is like lead and I feel like my feet are two bricks. Another hour to Pra Bastian meadows, which are as enchanting as ever. I amble lazily, stopping frequently to pick and scoff the abundant wild Bilberries carpeting the meadow. The haul through to the upper valley from the meadow  is steep but enchanting with good views opening south. I snap a single pine soaring on an azalea-covered knoll, silhouetted against the setting sun. Life is good. I pause to watch the sun set behind the distant mountains, before tackling the maze of granite boulders and slabs above. It takes a while to find the tennis-court sized lake, but it's a gem! There is snow on the ground yet the water is warm. But for the rapidly-cooling air I would have skinny-dipped completely, but just went in up to my waist. A quick dinner...well...more of  a snack really as I've no stove-just a little bit extra food to overnight. I lay down my sleeping bag and quickly doze off, only to wake with cold feet. I put my sleeping bag stuff sack over them, wrap my torso in some karrimat and am all toasty. Kali curls up a few feet away and we slumber.

Gran Mesule, 3500m, Valle Aurine 9/5/09

Necky drive up in Luciano's camper, Italian stylee as we drive past a sign saying "no campers" and spend the rest of the ascent convincing ourselves that ours is not technically a camper in the strictest terms cos it doesn't look exactly the same as the one displayed on the sign. The road is, nonetheless a tight squeeze. We bed down for the night. Alarm at 3am again. We are first off. Fairy lights are soon following us up. Snow is porridge. More than 70 people make it to the summit! One of the late season classics of the area. Despite the high temps, last night's fresh pow makes for some superb turns high up, & the lower slopes are so compacted and tracked out that they've stayed well ski-able all the way back to the camper...which is now surrounded by half a dozen other campers...Italian stylee.

Pizzo Rosso di Predoi, Valle Aurine 8/5/2009

Well, this weekend saw us hit the road Friday in Luciano's camper. 4 hours later we were at the end of Valle Aurine on the Italian side of the Ital/Aus border.
3 am alarm call. 4 am skis on packs and heading up the beautiful valley to the first snows. We start skinning at 1700m with no hint of re-freeze. Massive avalanches and still more to come down as we head into side valley leading up to the hut. Finally get some re-freeze at 2600m but the day's not going well for me. My skin won't stick, and then I discover I've lost a buckle of my new Dynafits!
The day's heating up & we're still a long way off the summit. Ski crampons on before a steep head wall which leads to the glacier above, but horribly wind-loaded slope gets too freaky, so we decide to leave it and I head down to look for my buckle. No sign of it so we skin upwards again towards the second, lower and safer objective of Cima del Vento, arriving on the summit in pretty much white-out and pretty beat up, as we've now done 1800m of vertical. We ski the arete and superb corn down the first 400m. From there on down it's total porridge, & we're just losing height pretty much all the way down to road.