In reply to jon:
> you might wish you'd had a photocopy of the route description...
At least the cost and quality of photocopiers has gone the right way.
I was quite smug (in 1977) to have access to a (thermal paper ) office copier and duly copied the target Alpine routes for the season.
On the first route the copy got steadily fainter and we lost lines where the paper was creased.
Anyway , after a bit of guesswork we managed to get up and half way down the Cima Grande, the last words on the page were " this ledge system has a gully at each end, do NOT descend the one on the ..........". We looked at the next scrap of paper, but unfortunately this was for a descent off another hill. Doh..
Guess which gully we chose.
Post edited at 18:06