Ace, Sam, and Ohanzee gear up to scout the area. On go the gaiters, snowshoes, gloves, hats, and balaclavas.
From both maps and the immediate terrain, it's obvious that you're in a deep, forested valley. The road runs north-south, with steep inclines on each side. Ohanzee's survival instincts compel him to study the terrain, wary of the potential for avalanches. The primary concern would be if the weight of the snow increases to the point where it overcomes cohesion to the snow pack underneath. Luckily, this doesn't seem to be an immediate threat. Ohanzee doesn't see any evidence for recent avalanches, nor are there large swaths of trees that have been knocked down like matchsticks. Ohanzee knows that the trees sticking up through the snowpack can help hold the snowpack in place. The thick forest of mature evergreen trees is anchoring the slab quite effectively, from the looks of it.
The snow and ice crunch underfoot. Walking is a chore. Sam has the longest legs but also weighs the most. Even with the snowshoes, he occasionally punches through the snow and has to drag his leg out. Ohanzee weighs the least so he falls through the snow less often, but when he does his short legs make it difficult to recover. Walking with snowshoes is an awkward process, requiring a bow-ledgged stance so that the inner edge of the snowshoe doesn't clip the opposite ankle. When it does it feels like you've kicked yourself, because you have.
Thick clouds roll up and down the valley, obscuring things further. It's quite difficult to see, even with thermographic vision. Ohanzee's thermo flashlight allows him and Sam not to run into trees. Ace uses a flashlight borrowed from Chino, but it's disconcerting when your world doesn't extend beyond the pool of light ten meters in front of you. Your breath billows up and obscures your vision even further, crusting your eyelashes and eyebrows with frost.
Identifying defensive chokepoints is not difficult, as the valley channels traffic effectively. The most logical approach would be the way you came, as continuing up the valley simply leads you higher in the mountains. Maps show that this road dead-ends eventually, so there shouldn't be any ground traffic coming from that direction unless it's on foot. It's always possible that someone could drop in, but Ace knows that a vertical insertion into forested terrain would be a nightmare, and doubly so at night. Only the truly desperate would attempt it.
There is no lack of trees to use for boobytraps or neck-height fishing line. Studying the terrain with Ohanzee, Sam figures that he could set off an avalanche with a few meters of det cord, should the need arise. It would cut off your return to civilization, but it could be an effective tactic to consume interlopers, or at least to slow them down sufficiently to make your own escape into the wilderness.
A cloud passes, enveloping you with a cold, damp wind. Ohanzee has the best insulation, which is good because he has the least meat on his bones. Sam's armor has the least insulation, but his body is so large that there's much less concern about his core temperature dipping dangerously low. Plus, given his damage compensators, Sam barely feels the cold. Ace and Ohanzee wish they could say the same, but they can't.
The lap around camp is almost complete when Ace's eyes fall on a footprint. Huh, that's funny, he didn't think they had made a full circuit yet. But wait, something's amiss. It's not a snowshoe print, it's a bare metahuman footprint. Something big, with feet the size of Sam. Looking closely, he sees the the edges of it are crisp and sharp and haven't been eroded by the wind. It's brand new. He follows for a few more steps until the footprints disappear mid-stride. He spins in a circle, but there are no more footsteps within sight of what his flashlight allows him to see. A chill goes up his spine. Maybe it's just the wind, or maybe it's Katsina's spell.
