It's a fair question Mu.<br/><br/>The party started out on the trail in late morning, if I recall, but it's late afternoon by the time that they exit the trees and find the avalanche.<br/><br/>The Fort DC for the weather will increase by +1 for each hour of exposure , but Feona can help with that to some extent; depending on her own save result.<br/><br/>For each failed save, you take 1D6 points of non-lethal damage and risk some condition effects. The non-lethal damage acts normally, so enough fails, and you're in trouble. On the bright side, finding shelter or some way to warm up and the damage drops. I need to check on what constitutes shelter to make sure, but you'll have to have at the least warmth and get out of the wind/sleet.<br/><br/>After dark, the temperature will drop below zero and saves start coming every 15 minutes. That would be the time that things get bad. Unless you just stop and start screwing around, you should find shelter well before sunset though.<br/><br/>There are other dangers, and the question will be, would it be better to hunker down in an exposed area and attempt to wait out an unnatural blizzard, or would it be less risky to continue moving and find more protective shelter. You ARE in what is apparently an avalanche zone... you can tell because you're standing at the edge of an avalanche. Crossing the area will be difficult terrain, but relatively safe. If you fall, you'll get some nice ice burns and maybe find a rock, but there aren't any cliffs to fall off of or sudden canyons to fall into. Think of it as walking across an icy parkinglot that has a little grade to it... with debris all over. If you fall, you'll injure your pride, but broken bones are really rare.<br/><br/>As I said before, I never set out to kill characters. I'll do my damned best to challenge you, but if a character death occurs, it'll be either random bad luck, or because one of us did something really stupid. Everything that I present you has value and information in the game, so it's up to you to figure out what the value is and use it. You'll get more out of me by asking questions, but hopefully, I'll give you enough to get you to the next step.