Layered atmospheric distance makes a two-hundred-mile mountain range visible

Evidence

The south end is completely closed up, but at a considerable distance, by the great mass of Pike’s Peak, while far beyond the other end are peaks and towers, wonderful in blue and violet in the lovely evening, and beyond these, sharply defined against the clear green sky, was the serrated ridge of the Snowy Range, said to be 200 miles away. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 178

Categorization

• FICTION: The violet-and-blue telescoping of Pike’s Peak into the Snowy Range is a compositional model for rendering vast landscapes in prose.
• XREF: connects to: High-mountain light stages illusions no lowland landscape can produce — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 139; Western desert distances deceive the eye because the air is crystal clear — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 42; Rarefied mountain air saps evening mental energy while sharpening observation — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 359 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Western desert distances deceive the eye because the air is crystal clear #complicates (0.95) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 42
• Sudden mountain vistas reward the ascent above a forested ravine #corroborates (0.90) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 30
• Distance makes sound quieter and duller as air absorbs high frequencies #complicates (0.88)
• Rarefied mountain air saps evening mental energy while sharpening observation #qualifies (0.85) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 359