The day was cloudless, and not a speck of snow fell, but the temperature was low.

It is probable that the thermometer would not have stood very many degrees below the freezing-point, but the effect on their bodies, ill protected by clothing, must have been in proportion to the rapidity of the current of cold air.

The gale lasted for more than a day; the men began to lose their strength, and the mules would not move onwards.

My guide's brother tried to return, but he perished, and his body was found two years afterwards, lying by the side of his mule near the road, with the bridle still in his hand.
Two other men in the party lost their fingers and toes; and out of two hundred mules and thirty cows, only fourteen mules escaped alive.

Many years ago the whole of a large party are supposed to have perished from a similar cause, but their bodies to this day have never been discovered.