Age of Canvas: Zveriny Pass, Transbaikalia

That was not the sort of ice which does any good for one's feet...

We stopped for a cold bivvy after descending East from Zveriny Pass, in the far Northern section of Upper Angara Range. Unfortunately I stepped into a wet naled the previous morning, and one of my boots froze shut to gaters. So the usual technique for keeping leather boots malleable during above-timberline nights (stuffing them into the sleeping bag) was out of question. Nothing to do, I left a boot outside, and then ... struggled with a blackened swollen toe for the remaining week of our trip.

March 1986