The shouting of men could scarcely be heard above the howling winds as they struggled to save one of their own who had lost his footing on the treacherous path that snaked its way through the mountainous terrain. The man desperately clung to the rocks at the end of a slippery slope, with the lower half of his body dangling over the edge of the cliff. Far below him, his horse and two other pack animals tethered together lay broken on the rocks, their bodies twisted and mangled from the fall. The precarious trail had become deadly in the higher altitudes, with the freezing cold and ice on the ground causing men and beasts to lose their footing, and had claimed the lives of several men over the last few days. The bitterly cold wind lashed the men during the rescue attempt that evening, stingi
