I saw two foxes, one out of range, the other 300-400 yards off apparently; I fired at the latter but missed – badly misjudging the range. In a dull light it is impossible to distinguish mounds and hollows; sometimes one seems to be entering a broad depression, and only the difficulty in walking corrects the error of the sight. Everything is glaringly white, there are no shadows, and consequently nothing for the eye to rest upon. Not infrequently stumbles into a large snowdrift 2 or 3 feet high without the eye being able to discern it.
Diamond Jenness
Antropologist
Arctic Odyssey – The Diary of Diamond Jenness 1913-1918, edited by Stuart E. Jenness, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1991.
In the low light of winter, with the sun only appearing above the horizon for a few hours a day, getting around on the land becomes more of a challenge. With the darkness of a cloudy night everything changes. Familiar horizons are replaced by closer ones, distance perception goes and imagination works overtime. Is that a polar bear? No, just a snow-covered rock. Even the snow-covered rocks can play tricks on you. Once I set out on a dull, snowy, white-out day and half way across a wide slope, I stumbled and fell over a rock that was blanketed in snow. Later that day, on my way back in brighter sunlight, it was amusing to see the line of my tracks in the snow headed straight for, and tumbling over, the only rock in sight!
David
