How wonderful it is to head up to the Eccles, especially when you’ve got a big climb in mind and know you’ll hardly run into anyone! Too bad that’s not the case, because even though everything looked fine from below, the conditions aren’t right and the bivouacs are practically full! The night ahead looks like a nightmare: we snag the last few open spots, but there are six people heading up onto the glacier. Crammed in like sardines, we decide to head out well after the others, so we can actually get at least an hour of sleep. The strategy would have required an even later wake-up call to work, since we still find a line at the start of the route. The route is well-bolted, in the sense that there’s nothing on it except for some belay stations with three bolts and literally three pitons between the start and the summit. The rock is amazing. For a fallback plan, we really hit the jackpot. The most challenging mountaineering feat of the day is the descent, whose first obstacle is climbing a fixed rope up the serac that hangs from a snow mushroom that’s been baking in the sun all day. Once we reach Monzino, we stop just for a moment to toast, even though the very kind Mauro invites us to eat something and get some sleep before heading to the car. Not satisfied with the descent we’ve made so far, we decide to take the day’s grade to ED, driving straight to Milan.