Here in the clarity of fall — before the weather gathers and snow climbs up and down the storm — I look for ways of increasing the order in life, firming a root hold I too seldom feel.
Basic mountaineering is popular, with some excellent ridge traverses and simple snow climbs near base.
On other days we visit a 12th-century crusader castle in the market town of Kerak (where it does begin to snow) and climb up Mount Nebo, the most important biblical site in Jordan, where Moses, having led the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness, looks out over the Promised Land.
Many write of being driven back from the summit by rain and snow, or climbing up in an impenetrable fog that blocks the views from the top.
In a wide border around the kitchen garden, I've planted Purple Smoke, a native baptisia or indigo, with charcoal stems and violet-blue flowers the same shape as those of the sugar-snap and snow peas climbing a nearby fence.
The order of these tragedies seems to change each time he tells the story, but it always ends with Snow Wolf climbing to the top of a bridge.
For 12 hours or more we lay in the snow or climbed to the top of a tree, onto the roof of a shed or a ruined house, and there camouflaged ourselves, so that the enemy wouldn't see where we were observing them from.
The depot provided training for operations in Arctic conditions, with instruction in climbing snow covered mountains, cliff climbing, and small boat and canoe handling.
For the most part, this spare, elegant novel unravels much the way Amélie describes the snow when she climbs Mount Kumotori: "Nothing is more mysterious than that which is unfolding before your eyes".
It seemed a good idea at the time, but halfway up this route, with all of the technical difficulties overcome and only the steep snow slopes to climb, I was avalanched.
