Never could it be construed as a place for life.

Even lichens were almost out of place here, and what folly could lead a man across the shifting snows?
But to be called a man, to be admired in silence, to be asked for opinions, to be deferred to--this was a treasure worth any price! He bowed himself to the wind again and made for the summit with the peculiar stride which a man must use with snowshoes.
He dared not slacken his efforts now.

The cold had been increasing, and to pause meant peril of freezing.

It was a highly electrified air, and the result was a series of maddening mirages.

He stumbled over solid rocks where nothing seemed to be in his way; and again what seemed a rock of huge size was nothing at all.