WINTER MOUNTAINEERING 53 



year. Wind is thus the chief factor in the making 

 of snow topography. Small hills and plains, caii- 

 ons, plateaus, and mountain ranges — all of snow — 

 are a constant source of interest. 



One morning I awoke with dense, white storm 

 clouds all around me and the snow coming down. 

 Wishing to camp that night at timberline, I 

 travelled up the mountainside in the thickly falling 

 snow and dense clouds. These clouds were drift- 

 ing easily along the mountainside and, together 

 with the feathery flakes which they were shedding, 

 made it impossible to see distinctly even to the 

 end of an extended arm. Suddenly I became 

 aware of a diminished depth of snow underfoot. 

 I stooped to measure it. It was less than three 

 inches. On rising I thrust my head through the 

 silver lining — the upper surface— of the cloud into 

 the sunshine. 



The altitude was about eleven thousand feet. 

 Above and about me the peaks and plateaus stood 

 in gray and brown. Not a flake of all this snow 

 had fallen upon them. There was nothing to 

 indicate that a storm had prevailed just below 

 during the last two days and nights, or that only 

 a step down the mountain snow was still falling. 



Soundless and motionless the cloud sea lay be- 

 low. Here and there an upthrusting pinnacle 

 cast a shadow upon it. Unable to make myself 

 believe that below me the flakes were falling thick 

 and fast and that the ground was deeply covered 



