Trackless snow and clouded skies produce a specific, fearful solitude.

Evidence

After leaving them I rode twelve miles, but it was “bad traveling,” from the balling of the snow and the difficulty of finding the track. There was a fearful loneliness about it. The track was untrodden, and I saw neither man nor beast. The sky became densely clouded, and the outlook was awful. The great Divide of the Arkansas was in front, looming vaguely through a heavy snow cloud, and snow began to fall, not in powder, but in heavy flakes. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 164

Categorization

• FICTION: A ready-made image for a story of a lone traveler reading an approaching storm as the landscape’s mood; the Divide looming vaguely is pure atmosphere.
• XREF: connects to: Isolation in deep winter both stunts inner life and blocks it from being told — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 232; Solitude in dark mountain chasms produces an eerie craving for human company. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 219; Isolation makes benign mountains swell into impassable psychological barriers — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 227 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Isolation in deep winter both stunts inner life and blocks it from being told #corroborates (1.00) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 232
• Knowing others recently perished nearby turns solitude into terror. #expands (1.00) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 180
• Solitude in dark mountain chasms produces an eerie craving for human company. #complicates (0.90) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 219
• Loneliness is not solitude but a distinct condition of being deserted by others #complicates (0.90) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1080
• Fear physically paralyzed a confident traveler on the mountainside #complicates (0.90) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 114
• Isolation makes benign mountains swell into impassable psychological barriers #complicates (0.80) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 227
• Intense high-altitude light can make solitude exhilarating instead of oppressive #complicates (0.80) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 222
• Blinding snowstorms erase landmarks and leave travelers lost in the wilderness. #complicates (0.70) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 226
• Heavy snowfall produces a felt suspension of ordinary time #expands (0.70) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 200