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Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/129

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FIRST EXPLORATION OF THE MURCHISON GLACIER
89

and the usual complaint is of the heat, not of the cold. Some men suffer a good deal of discomfort from sunburn. I myself am a victim in this respect. It is the upper and freshly fallen snow which is so ruinous to the epidermis, the reflection from the new and unmelted crystals being so great as to cause the skin to assume a dark chocolate colour even during one day's work amongst it.

Sometimes blisters form, after which the skin puckers up and eventually peels off in patches. The noses of persons possessed of aquiline features are usually a study in themselves after a day or two's exposure on new snow.