It wasn't that Kei'taro was a particularly slow mountain climber, or that the mountain was already proving to be more of a challenge than he first thought. The simple reason that he wasn't currently still ahead of Havardr was that the Key Holder was fast, especially in his own territory. 

The challenges were always done with the key holder being in advantage. Of course, there had been tricks he could use, or surprises he could dole out - but many here had been taken away. Havardr had zoomed past him with exceptional speed, taking to the mountain with a practiced ease. As should have been the case! Kei'taro wasn't as shocked by this as he probably shouldn't have been, the Goat, after all, had spent a lot of time traversing this range. 

What did surprise him, however, was the shakiness that had taken hold of the mountain. He had experienced earthquakes before, but never while climbing a mountain. Combined with the slowly budding phenomena known as a blizzard, he knew he was in for a ride. A normal person would have probably been frIghtened right off the mountain, but Kei'taro was determined to carry on. 

While the Goat was considerably at home on this mountain, Kei'taro possessed certain physical advantages. Ultizing his sensitive sense of touch, he felt for the moments when the shaking mountain seemed to ebb and flow. At the same time, he trained his eyes on several points of interest. At the culmination of both, he used his remarkable physical strength and propelled himself up the mountain. This type of watch and wait method increased his movement speed, and soon he was moving in on the Mountain Goat, though not quite in position to overtake him. 

Every few tens of feet, the mountains quaking got progressively more violent; soon Kei'taro wouldn't be able to use this particular method to travel, and would have to employ a different tactic.