That was pretty much it as far as meteorological excitement went. We plodded back down along our ascent tracks without further incident, and were glad to finally be back on solid ground at about ten minutes before 10 a.m.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
The cairns soon re-appeared, and we followed them and the noticeable boot track back down the diagonal ramp, back onto the lateral moraine. We could see the hut below us now, not even a kilometre away. A broad snowfield below us tempted us into a glissade short-cut, but in the end we needed to cut across some awkward terrain that negated any benefit.
courtesy JInnes
Crags below Cima della Negra
courtesy JInnes
We arrived back at the hut at 10:30am, in - would you believe it - full sunshine. It was frustrating to think that, rather than starting early and avoiding it, we'd somehow managed to time our summit with exactly the peak of the bad weather. Arrgh!
Still, we had made the summit, and returned in one piece. One must count one's blessings.