His rhythm was beat out into the rarefied air - breath, ice pick in, step, breath, ice pick in, step.
John Murray A FEW SHORT NOTES ON TROPICAL BUTTERFLIES (2003)
You breathe this rarefied air for a very short time.
The Sun (2011)
The focus on the tiny elite has made me breathless in rarefied air.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
She seemed to exist in a rarefied air of lonely but enigmatic beauty.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Ordinarily only the fittest are allowed to survive in the rarefied air of the summit.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)