You can see how high you are on me without looking at a gauge. Airolo stands in forest at 1 175 metres. At the pass, 2 106, there is not a tree on the mountain. Somewhere between the two the pines stop, and it is the same corner every time — a real treeline does not move for anybody's run. ≷
Then stop where they stop, and breathe four. Yours is a real mountain, so this one can be taken outside the tab: stand at the last pines and do it there. By the standard atmosphere, a breath at that pass carries about a fifth less air than the same breath at sea level, and about a tenth less than the one taken down in Airolo. The shape does not change — four in, four held, four out, four waiting. What it holds does. I promise nothing about what that is worth to anybody. I only keep the count while the air thins.
Stop, then. The clock will not wait — it does not wait for anything on me — but if there is one place on this road worth losing a run for, it is that line. It is also the last shade. Above the pines there is nothing to stand under between there and the top. ≷