The Snowflake

Before I melt

Come, look at me!

This lovely icy filigree!

Of a great forest

In one night

I make a wilderness

Of white:

By skyey cold

Of crystals made,

All softly, on

Your finger laid,

I pause, that you

My beauty see:

Breathe, and I vanish

Instantly.

--Walter De La Mare

[Picture]

Snow Mountain, in central Taiwan, rises 3,884 meters above sea level, second in height only to the famous Jade Mountain. On New Year's Day, 1982, six of us decided to climb Snow Mountain, a not impractical idea for amateurs, as paths lead to the top and rest stations have been built along the way.

We arrived at Chi Ka Mountain Hostel at two in the afternoon, and an hour later were on our way towards the mountain's East Peak. We moved slowly, weighted down by our heavy camping equipment and delayed by our constant pauses to take photos. At dusk, we stopped by a pine wood. Mists and fog swirled around us on all sides. The pine trees seemed to change their aspect from moment to moment. Taken by the beautiful scene, we hardly noticed the gathering darkness and at last had to use flashlights to look for a camp site. After a simple meal, we bedded down and slept, some of us troubled a bit by thoughts of wandering bears.

Around two o'clock in the morning, in the dark, we resumed our way to the mountain top to be in time for the dawn. It was freezing cold. Even the bamboos were sheathed in frost. Stars twinkled in the sky, but in the valleys below us seas of clouds rose almost to our upward path. Someone remarked that they seemed to be asleep in the embrace of the mountains and valleys.

As we struggled upwards, the first daylight began to break. A greyish crevice appeared through the blurred darkness of the mountains and clouds and widened until the sky turned red, then golden bright. The contours of the peak stood out against the sky. The valley clouds drifted off and the ice melted from the trees, leaving a fairyland of water drops sparkling like diamonds, beautiful, unique, varied. Awed by the spectacular scene, we forgot our fatigue.

We had hoped to camp out that evening at a place called Green Pond, but the bitter cold drove us to take shelter in a hut, itself unheated, in a cypress grove. Awakened at five in the morning by the numbing cold, we found a silver world around us. Snow was falling on the cypress and bamboos and clinging to our window panes. We began to run around, to take pictures and sometimes just to stand still, overcome by the beauty of the snow, so rare in Taiwan.

All good things must end. By nine we were on our way down the mountain. Snow flakes still fell on us from a grey sky hardly lightened by a thin sun. Now we are back in the city, but the mountain remains with us, in our hearts and in the many photos which we keep and treasure.

[Picture Caption]

1,3,4 & 6. Frosted trees and all kinds of plants in the mountain sparkle under the sun like crystals and diamonds. 2. Craggy icicles constitute a unique scene along the way from the East Peak of Snow Mountain to Mountain Hostel 369. 5. During the New Year's Day season, even the spacious Chi Ka Mountain Hostel cannot accommodate swarms of mountain lovers.

1. Morning sunlight penetrates through clouds to form a world of fairy tale. 5. At noon, the main peak of Snow Mountain soars high into the blue sky. 2. In the afternoon, the clouds begin to gather, and the climate is unpleasant. 6. After a night's fall of snow, Snow Mountain has turned into a silver world. 3. The short trees have strong vitality, and are about the oldest of their kind in the forest. 4. Cypress wood.

Climbing Snow Mountain in Winter.

Climbing Snow Mountain in Winter.

Frosted trees and all kinds of plants in the mountain sparkle under the sun like crystals and diamonds.

Craggy icicles constitute a unique scene along the way from the East Peak of Snow Mountain to Mountain Hostel 369.

Frosted trees and all kinds of plants in the mountain sparkle under the sun like crystals and diamonds.

Frosted trees and all kinds of plants in the mountain sparkle under the sun like crystals and diamonds.

During the New Year's Day season, even the spacious Chi Ka Mountain Hostel cannot accommodate swarms of mountain lovers.

Frosted trees and all kinds of plants in the mountain sparkle under the sun like crystals and diamonds.

Morning sunlight penetrates through clouds to form a world of fairy tale.

Cypress wood.

The short trees have strong vitality, and are about the oldest of their kind in the forest.

The short trees have strong vitality, and are about the oldest of their kind in the forest.

At noon, the main peak of Snow Mountain soars high into the blue sky.

After a night's fall of snow, Snow Mountain has turned into a silver world.