The Albigna Valley is a guarantee, and certainly this statement by Saverio cannot be disproved. Arriving at the parking lot thirty minutes earlier than necessary, we kill time chatting until, at the sound of the alarm, we decide to descend; an Arctic wind makes it clear that today it would be better to be penguins—or maybe not… even they seem to have fled Albigna… This ominous sign can only put the ice climber in a good mood, as suffering is well known to be part of the appeal. We meet two others, a rope team from Emilia-Romagna! The approach passes quickly in this friendly atmosphere, but then time starts to slow down when we have to wait at the base of the route. I start climbing with numb hands, and even the first slabby pitch keeps me busy. For Daniele it won’t be any better, since his pitch is more vertical. Once at the top we hear something being shouted, but we can’t quite understand it… It’s Saverio letting us know they are already heading back to the car. Two more easy pitches follow, but covered in a tricky refrozen crust, and then it’s a fast descent on rappels and an even faster run (this time literally) back to the car, which we reach in the dark. The ice is abundant and solid, with only the issue of being covered by a couple of layers of refrozen crust.