The low-branched spruce trees with their short, stiff needles lashed at unwary faces in the misleading light from the torches, and Within minutes all three of them had pulled ski goggles and wind masks on for protection. It took them nearly three hours of heavy going in the darkness to break out of the trees. There, Gillon found that the sky had misted over, dimming the stars that ordinarily would have been bright enough to allow them to travel quickly over the open snow. But a high ice layer had moved in to suffuse and dim the starlight enough to mask uneven spots and -depressions in the snow, forcing them to a cautious pace. Here in the open they did not dare risk the use of flashlights. By 2200 hours, they were in sight of the top of the pass, which appeared as nothing more than a great blot in the blurred sheet of snow. Gillon stopped several hundred feet 'short of the summit and whistled softly. Receiving no reply, he whistled again. They glanced at one another. Dmietriev nodded and they separated to provide a more widely spaced target as they moved closer to the top of the pass.
