Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
107
we were climbing, all surface definition on the snow at our feet was gone. I wor-
ried that if the cloud was too thick, I would have no visual means of staying in the
middle of the ramp.
As I started the rejetting, an eerie incident occurred. Out of nowhere, a skua
appeared, circled us several times, landed on the snow about fifty feet up slope,
and sat there calmly watching me. The powerful bird, more than five hundred
miles from open water and its source of food, squatted inscrutably beneath the
gathering gloom. Then, having rested, it spread its tawny wings, rose slowly into
the wind, drifted east beyond the rocky edge, and dropped from sight.
I f ever there was an omen, this surely had to be. But was it bad or was it
good? I took it to be good, and fired up the snowmobile for the final leg, about
a mile to the summit flat. When we hit the bottom of the cloud, all visibility and
surface definition went to zero. I steered by keeping the wind directly on the nose
 
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