Maysam looks built by weather rather than exercise: his face is wind-roughened and ruddy at the nose, with pale salt lines where sweat dried beneath his eyes. Fine grit lives in the seams of his knuckles. His dark hair is usually flattened under a wool cap, and a fringe escapes in damp curls when he climbs. He moves with a careful, testing economy, placing each boot as if the floor might turn to ice. When startled, he takes one short, audible breath through his teeth before he speaks. Unexpectedly, he keeps a pocket-sized book of pressed alpine flowers and can identify them with the focus of a gardener.

Maysam is quick to volunteer for the dangerous task and slow to accept praise for it. He is patient with frightened beginners but impatient with confident people who endanger others. In calm company he is observant and unexpectedly tender, collecting flowers and remembering everyone's preferred tea; when a storm or a crisis hits, warmth gives way to clipped instructions and relentless focus. He wants to be brave, yet fears that his bravery is partly a way to punish himself.

Maysam grew up hauling charcoal and flour between the foothill hamlets and a high pass that the local map called the Shiver Cut. His mother, Samira, taught him to read weather from the undersides of clouds; his father, Nabil, taught him to tie a load so it would not shift when the mule stumbled. At sixteen, Maysam joined a caravan led by his older sister, Darya. A sudden whiteout trapped them above the pass. Their employer ordered the porters to abandon a stranded family and save the cargo. Maysam was terrified, but cut the cargo loose, used its rope to reach the family, and helped guide everyone down. Darya lost two fingers to frostbite and never forgave the employer; Maysam still blames himself for waiting as long as he did. Since then, he has become the pass's most trusted guide, though he still calls himself a common laborer. Now a landslide has buried the old trail, and the wealthy route-master Husham is pressuring the hamlets to open an unsafe new track before the thaw. Maysam is gathering workers and supplies to clear a safer route, while trying to reconcile with Darya, who has returned to the mountain with a rival crew.