human
Produce a detailed written description of a foreboding scene outside a mountain with cornices, blocks of ice, and heaps of snow.
assistant
Small steps hacked out of the side of the mountain lead down, providing meager protection from the howling gales on the slopes. High above, cornices hang dangerously low, shuddering with each renewed gust of wind. Packed ice and snow make assaults on the peak slow at best, fatal at worst. Blocks of ice the size of buildings lie in heaps at the bottom of the western slope, a testament to the power of the titanic avalanches that ravage the mountain.