"S'a turn of phrase. I'm used to winters up on the mountain where my folks had a lodge, but it's been a long damn time since I've gotten stuck like this."

He's not panicking, not really. The snow didn't do this to him after all. It was his own clumsiness that got him into this mess. Panicking won't get him free any faster. He just has to wiggle his boot free so he can move both legs and then work on carefully pulling himself back out and onto the ledge he'd apparently fallen off of.

"What was that you were goin' on about before?"