Once en route, riding soon became intolerable, for my
feet and hands were nearly frozen, so I clambered up
through the forest on foot. When we stopped for lunch
under some junipers near the tree-limit the snow was
whirling down thicker than ever; nothing was visible but
grey clouds, trees laden with snow, and a world of falling
flakes. Through the heavy mists everything loomed white
and indistinct, and once out of the forest we got the full
benefit of the wind. Granite had given place to the usual
limestone capping this range, but of the fine scenery we
were now coming into I could see little. The valley
head was blocked by a rounded hummock of rock over
which the stream poured in several small cascades, but this
obstacle we outflanked, reaching an open plateau-like valley
covered with dwarf rhododendron, but now buried under
deep snow. We could not see more than a hundred yards
in any direction, but presently we entered a narrow stony
gulley with tremendous scree-slopes rising steeply on either
hand to the splintered limestone towers which had given
birth to them. It was a most desolate scene and the going
was very bad, for the gulley being blocked by large boulders,
it was necessary to traverse the scree itself.
