Of all weathers, snow is the one that has always affected the author Marcus Sedgwick the most.

Five years ago, he and his partner bought a mountain house, an old chalet d’alpage high in the Haute Savoie of eastern France.

Here for the first time he understands how snow can really shape the rhythms of daily life and during his first full winter in the mountains, he appreciates the hard daily labour involved in clearing proper alpine snow from the path outside his house.

In this episode, his new home prompts him to recall explorations of other snowy landscapes including his own trip to the Arctic Circle and that of the great explorer Scott as he headed for the South Pole.

Abridged by Katrin Williams

Read by Jonathan Firth.

Producer: Julian Wilkinson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016. Show less