the snow creaked beneath his boots

[alpacinou]

Is this correct?

The city was blanketed in a grayish snow as he trudged home, feeling the snow creaking beneath his beaten boots.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes. Normally snow is white, but I'm guessing it was grayish because people had been walking all over it and getting it dirty. Am I right?

 

[alpacinou]

Yes. Normally snow is white, but I'm guessing it was grayish because people had been walking all over it and getting it dirty. Am I right?

Yes. The city was dirty and polluted and because of the smog, the snow had turned grayish. Does that make sense?

 

[Tdol]

It works as a poetic touch, but it is not a standard verb.

 

[alpacinou]

It works as a poetic touch, but it is not a standard verb.

What verb do you mean?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It works as a poetic touch, but it is not a standard verb.

He could have said crunched, but that would have been predictable. Creaked is more evocative. (Or as you say, poetic.)

Anyhow, let's keep it!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes. The city was dirty and polluted and because of the smog, the snow had turned grayish. Does that make sense?

My wife lived in Minnesota, a very snowy US state, for a long time. They have a word for gray snow there: snirt — part snow, part dirt.

(Don't use it. Most people won't know what you're talking about.)

 

[Tdol]

What verb do you mean?

Creaked- floorboards creak, snow only does artistically.

 

[Tarheel]

Creaked- floorboards creak, snow only does artistically.

At first I thought you meant trudged. I agree that crunching is better.