Labyrinth - Journal Of A Spirit Mountain lyrics

It has seen empires fall and species vanish into time
And it is surrounded by others that rival its age
Yet, looking around, it's a wonder that anything survives here
At this altitude the air is thin, containing only about 60% of the life-sustaining gases that are present at sea level
For every organism this means stress
For animals there is less oxygen, for plants there is less carbon-dioxide
Temperatures tend to extremes, with frigid nights even in the dark days of summer and dry antarctic-like conditions through the winter
Water is hard here, these mountains receive less than 15 inches of total moisture all year, as slow or in sparse rainfall that evaporates quickly in the thin dry atmosphere