Wide and far on either side, before
and behind us, spread the arctic land,
unlike anything else we had ever seen. Cones, ridges, rounded
rock
outcroppings rose dark from the tan tundra below. All smooth
looking,
all rounded. "Bland!" I thought in surprise.
"That's the word for
the Arctic." But the blandness was eerie, for it was one
face of danger;
one never quite forgot winter.
--
LOIS CRISLER
These arctic mountains are distinguished
by an everpresent mood of
darkness, cold, and snow. Winter is a constant, though usually
hidden
companion during the short arctic summer; the quickness of the
summer
only intensifies the awareness that warmth here is only a brief
respite
from cold, that light will soon be followed by a deep and much
longer-lasting darkness. This mood dominates the land and every
living thing in it.
--JOHN
P. MILTON
