"We'll climb it anyway. Maybe it isn't snowing as hard on the other side."
They started off then, with Lamoureux barely keeping a tight enough grip on his feelings to prevent his talking to himself. The mountain was steep, but the gravity here being low, it was easy enough to climb. McCracken demonstrated how easy it was by running up it full speed. Lamoureux let him go, hoping that he would break his neck, but McCracken's luck was too good. All he did was start a gentle landslide that almost buried everybody else.
As they rose, they got more and more of the Sun's rays and the temperature went up slightly. The snow turned to rain, drenching them to the skin, and they climbed all the faster, anxious to get the job over with.
At the top, the rain had died down to a faint drizzle. Lamoureux, looking off into the distance, could see as through a veil a range of sky-piercing mountains, their peaks gleaming in the Sun, their roots cleft with deep shadowed valleys. Between almost every pair of mountains was a saddlebacked ridge.
"Landmarks," commented Lamoureux sourly. "To hell with them."
"I told you it would be a waste of time, Captain."
"Not in the least, McCracken. After all, you might have broken your neck."
They started down again, and in a half hour were back at the line where the rain changed to snow. Another hour took them to Gronski again.
Lamoureux shook his head. "No sign of Kalinoff."