Old snow reviving the glory days of the former Andelsferner

My map shows a tiny glacier by the name of Andelsferner, NNE of the Lodner. As I look down, I don't know yet if it's still there, or if it's only white as the result of the highly unusual amounts of snow still high up in the mountains all over the Alps. Considering that maps tend to lag behind the fast changing state of the glaciers, there might be some ice under there, but I'm too far away to see. In fact, I'm a few hundred meters higher, on the Lodner summit plateau. I came up by the normal route, over the Lodnerferner. That's from the NW, further to the left, not visible here. That route eventually leads to a shoulder below the N ridge, just north of the summit plateau, from where it's normally a scramble on rocky slabs, with moves up to UIAA grade II. This scramble is the crux of the route. However, I was fortunate that there was snow there too, and that made it a little easier. Originally I had planned to return the same way, but as I had made good time, I started thinking about other possiblities. Would there be another feasible way down? Sure enough, I found one. Not directly from the summit plateau, but from the shoulder below the crux. There was a gully, quite steep at the top but easing real quick, and it was packed with snow. I didn't have my guidebook with me, but later I looked up the route descriptions for the area, and they made it clear that this gully would normally be full of scree and rubble, and therefore not a recommendable route. But the snow covered all of that, making it a whole lot safer. It's fun to find your own way in the mountains! Back at the Lodner Hütte, I talked to the warden. He said that he knew the gully, and had skied down there. His technique must be a whole lot better than mine to do that. 15 July 2013.