Here the full force of the north-east blizzard met him.

He staggered and choked with the first blast, then in a temporary lull forged ahead.
The storm, as Peter predicted, had not reached its height.

Each smothering blast of fury was stronger and fiercer than the one before it.

Andy took advantage of the lulls, and save when the heavier blasts came and nearly swept him from his feet, maintained a steady trot.

In the swirl of snow-clouds he could see nothing a foot from his nose.
Once he found himself floundering through pressure ridges formed by the tide near shore.