Is your impression of this man changing now or are you becoming even more convinced that your original impressions were correct?

I don't know what your original impression was. I found the man rather cocky and full of hubris. He did not heed the clues nature was giving him like his spit freezing before it hit the ground. We see the man make more mistakes as he forges forward into the freezing weather. I was not surprised that the man's hubris clouded his decisions that lead to his ultimate undoing.