What is the symbolic significance of snow and wind in Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal?

I think the snow represents the simple innocent faith of the children...blind faith that is rewarded. They get caught in a blinding, heavy snow storm, making their proceeding with ever increasing difficulty as the temperature falls to a bone chilling coldness. They are moving through a landscape that is made almost abstract by the snow. The ice adds to the formidableness of their trial. As the snow storm dissipated, stars appear, slowly, one by one, transforming the dark night into a wondrous, magical world of glistening silent beauty. Outside their stone hut they see a glacial field glittering with ice crystal diamonds.