Then head on over to BookSworn, where I
talk about an outrider's most vital possession, and share a deleted scene from and early draft of The Whitefire Crossing to illustrate its use.
(The scene originally took place right after Kiran's near-disastrous encounter with the drover-who-would-in-later-drafts-become-Pello, at Ice Lake. I'm sure you'll be able to tell why I cut the scene: it's all about the mountaineering, and not about the tension. :) But I did later use a reworked version of it in
The Tainted City - yet another reason why it's good to always, always keep a "cut scenes" file and never truly delete words!)
And to further illustrate the glissade in yon deleted scene, I offer these photos:
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| Ascending a snow slope near Navajo Peak with my trusty ice axe |
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| Preparing to glissade! (My hiking partner's glissade track is visible as the long furrow in the snow.) |
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| Zooming down, using the ice axe's base spike as a rudder |
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| Wheeeeee!!! |
