It was an uphill climb to access the valley on the other side of this ridge, at 3500m in the Italian Alps. After being dropped off by a helicopter, we climbed into the next valley, with a lot of huffing and puffing.

It was a good weekend with an eclectic collection of work colleagues, friends, and friends of friends. All together 11 of us spent the weekend taking the chopper up and skiing down, though some of us spent more time rolling down than skiing.

The view from the B&B in Alagna is straight down the valley to the 5 peaks of Monterosa, the second highest peak in Europe, after Mont Blanc.