An alpine start, in order

An alpine start goes wrong in the dark, in a cold hut, with six people looking for the same head torch. The fix is boring: lay everything out the night before, in the order you will need it.

The night before

1. Fill water bottles and put them in the sleeping bag, or upside down in the pack so the lids do not freeze.
2. Pack the bag completely except for what you will wear. Rope, harness and crampons on top or outside.
3. Lay out clothes in a pile, in the order they go on: base layer, socks, trousers, fleece, shell.
4. Torch on the pile. Set it to the low mode now, so you do not wake the room.

In the morning

• Eat before you dress. Cold fingers are slow with wrappers.
• Start cold. If you are warm standing still at the door, you will be soaked twenty minutes up the skin track.
• Keep the insulated jacket at the top of the pack, not at the bottom. You will want it at the first stop.

Turnaround time

Agree on it before you leave the hut, and say it out loud. Ours on this trip was 11:00 on the summit or wherever we stood at that time. We turned at 10:40, two rope lengths short, because the snow was getting soft. That was the right call.