alpine

Undaunted, Werstein crafted new alpine touches that adorn the ruins’ newly painted concrete walls.

Many of these expeditions, including French, Japanese and Swiss teams, are tackling summits in true alpine style: minimal support, no supplementary oxygen, no fixed ropes and carrying all their own gear.

"There is the potential for alpine flora and soils to be adversely affected by the addition of ashes to a nutrient-poor environment," he said.

The setting is still a Swiss alpine hamlet, but the villagers are all members of some puritanical sect and its sleepwalking heroine, Amina, has longings that transcend its limits.

In the Sierra Nevada, the snow that blankets the rugged landscape each winter melts and gushes in meadows, streams and rivers, nourishing alpine ecosystems and filling reservoirs.