Adam said, “I don’t have a good feeling about this. There aren’t any lights on. It doesn’t look like anyone’s in there.”
Maddie followed him into the Ski Patrol shack. Just as he had suspected, it was abandoned. He flipped the light switch—nothing. Maybe the storm had knocked out the power.
Damn!
Maddie rummaged through a desk drawer and found a flashlight. Adam put the handset of the landline phone against his ear—no dial tone.
Damn!
Maddie said excitedly, “Look, a CB radio. Do you know how to work one?”
Adam scratched his head.
“I’ve never used one.”
They took turns trying various knobs and tuning to different frequencies. Occasionally, they would hear other people talking in choppy, interrupted sentences as the signal faded in and out, but it seemed that no matter what they did, no one could hear them. Adam’s hands clenched into fists as he paced the room.
Maddie shone the flashlight on a map of the ski trails that was posted on a bulletin board.
Adam studied the map and said, “We could wait out the storm here in the ski shack. But with the power out and the temperature dropping so fast, it’s going to get really cold up here.”
Maddie frowned and said, “We don’t know when the storm is going to end. And what if we get snowed in here for several days? We don’t have any food or water. And if we’re snowed in, no one can get to us to help.”
Adam raked both hands down his face and said, “Then our only other option is to try to make it down the mountain. If we find the shortest trail, we should be able to get down in an hour or less. If we keep moving, we should stay warm enough to avoid frostbite or hypothermia.”
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Maddie glanced over her shoulder with a cheeky grin and said, “Then we’ll be back in our warm, cozy cabin with a hot tub and a nice fire going, and some good wine, and…”
Adam pulled her close and kissed her. “That sounds fabulous to me. Are we in agreement to give the mountain a go?”
“I think it’s our only option,” she said as her eyes searched his for encouragement.
He nodded somberly. It was unfortunate that neither of them could foresee the consequences of their decision.
Chapter 13
Adam wondered how it had come to be that they were stranded at the top of the mountain in a snowstorm with no other souls in sight. He and Maddie carefully examined the ski trail map and tried to find the shortest trail they thought they could navigate, skill-wise. All of the trails at this location were black diamond and double black diamond trails—the highest level of difficulty. But even among black diamond trails, some were harder than others to navigate. Some double and triple black diamond trails could contain ice crevasses, moguls, soaring cliffs, and avalanche risks. They had to choose carefully. They settled on a single black diamond trail that appeared to be the shortest.
Maddie shivered as they emerged from the ski shack. She covered her mouth with her gloved hands as she scanned the area. Visibility had decreased to less than twenty feet. She squinted to make out the signs as the wind and snow stung the exposed areas of her face.
Adam said, “We need to stick together, no matter what.”
Maddie nodded. They retrieved their skis and poles and made their way to the trail entrance. Even though they were anxious to get down to warmth and safety, Adam made a conscious effort to keep the pace slow for Maddie. When they first started out, Maddie’s teeth chattered, but as long as they kept moving, the cold was bearable.
Through the dark clouds, they could barely make out the orange hues in the sky as the sun began its descent behind the mountain. At first the trail didn’t seem too difficult as it meandered across the mountain somewhat horizontally. But when they got to the ridge and looked down, there was a steep slope with big moguls everywhere. Adam gripped his poles tighter and swallowed hard.
This was not going to be good.
Maddie glanced at him, wide-eyed.
“You can do it,” he shouted over the wind.
He tried to keep his face blank to disguise his growing apprehension. She nodded as they began the slow process of navigating their way down, barely able to see what was coming ahead of them. Adam feared that it might become a complete whiteout before long, but he kept that thought to himself. Maddie was quiet, her eyes on the trail, her face contorted as she concentrated intently on her every move.
Based on his memory of the trail map, Adam estimated that they were approximately halfway down the mountain when he heard a loud, rumbling roar in the distance.
Was that thunder? A train?
He stopped and strained to hear. He couldn’t quite make it out, and then his eyes grew wide when it occurred to him where he had heard a sound like that before. His pulse quickened as he recalled a television show that he had seen about a month ago in which the extreme skiers compared the sound of an approaching avalanche to the sound of a freight train.
The rumbling steadily grew louder as the realization hit him. He quickly looked at Maddie, and judging by the panicked look on her face, she knew it too.
He shouted, “Pick up the pace,” as he squinted and searched for anything they could use as shelter—a rock or a fallen tree that they could get behind—but suddenly the avalanche was upon them.
In the next instant, Adam felt himself tumbling down the mountain, caught up in a slide of snow, ice, and debris, tumbling over and over, out of control, tangled in his skis
