Acknowledgements
We dedicate this paper to our dear friend and colleague B. Lombardo, remembering the stimulating discussions and the days on the field. G. Fioraso is gratefully acknowledged for helpful discussion about glacial morphology. This study is part of the SHARE (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment) Project, financially supported by the Ev-K2-CNR in collaboration with the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology as foreseen by the Memorandum of Understanding between Nepal and Italy, and thanks to contributions from the Italian National Research Council and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Laboratory work was supported by University of Torino-Call 1-Junior PI Grant (TO_Call1_2012_0068).