Understanding "雪の色はそこまで行かぬうちに" Consider > **** which apparently means > When Shimamura gazed outside, thinking it had already gotten cold, railroad residence-like barracks were desolately dispersed at the foot of the mountains, and before the snow hues could reach that far, the barracks were swallowed by darkness. I'm having trouble parsing "". What does mean in this context, and how is it being used with the before it to form the meaning of "before the snow hues could reach that far"?

has the same structure as = _before Hanako reaches the school_. Thus it means _before the color of snow goes that far_.

I think it is a matter of interpretation, but the part resonates with the beginning

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So it is late in the evening, and the scenery Shimamura is seeing is colored white at bottom. He sees barracks in the distance, but the color of snow is already gone around/before there. (This may sound not logical, but I don't think it's surprising in Kawabata's writings.)

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The translator takes the subject of '' as the barracks. I'd say it is possible, but then it would be definitely more natural to say **** .