I felt the cold, crisp evening air as the chairlift ascended up the snow blanketed mountain. The trees stood in stillness, covered with fluffy powdery snow. My brother Felix and I were skiing; it was one of the things we still enjoyed doing together. "It's getting late, so can this be our last run?" I turned to him and replied "Yeah, sure"

When the chairlift reached the top, I lifted myself off the chair, my skis gliding forwards smoothly, taking me towards the nearest run. Felix was in front of me, and I heard him yell, "READY?" I gave him a thumbs up, and he zoomed down the mountain. I pushed myself forward with my poles, making swift turns to try to keep up.

I could see him waiting for me at a flat area in the distance. I'm not the most confident skier, and Felix has always been faster than me. The ski run was narrow. I turned my skis parallel, and bent down lower, trying to gain speed. I felt a little wobbly and unbalanced in my ski boots but I stared straight ahead.I briefly eyed the cliffs on either side of me which pulled my attention away for a second and I didn't realize there was a massive bump of snow directly in front of me. My heart raced. I stood upright and turned my skis inwards and snow plowed, desperately trying to slow myself down. My legs buckled, and in an instant, my skis popped off, my poles flew out of my hands, and I was lying on the cold packed snow. A snowboarder stopped near me and went to grab my poles, which were a little ways away. I could still see my brother in the distance and I waved so he could see me. Our parents often let us go skiing just the two of us, as long as we communicate with each other. I got onto my hands and knees and retrieved my skis, and I thanked the snowboarder for their help.

Still sitting on the snow, I awkwardly clicked my skis on and I was sitting back behind my ski boots trying to stand up. I wasn't paying attention to the steep slope next to me, and I lost my balance getting up. I accidentally glided towards the cliff. My eyes went wide. My heart beat skyrocketed. I screamed as I flew off the edge. I landed sharply on my side, my skis flew off, and I rolled down the mountain uncontrollably. My heart was pounding out of my chest in fear, and I shut my eyes tightly, just praying that I wouldn't hit a tree. Snow was flying everywhere, my whole body was spinning as I plummeted down the cliff.

It didn't take long for me to finally hit the bottom of an untouched wintery ravine. I had fallen directly onto a flat area of untouched snow. For a moment, I only saw and heard complete silence. I landed on my stomach and everything was aching. The cold of the snow was stinging my face. My face scrunched up as I pushed myself onto my side and rolled on to my back. My head and heart were still pounding, and I felt dizzy. My right leg was sore from being twisted when my ski popped off. I sat upright and looked up at the massive steep hill I had rolled down. Thank goodness I hadn't hit a tree on the way down. The mountain was still a little fuzzy. The panic had started to set in, I hadn't brought my phone with me, I couldn't call for help. I was completely lost and alone. And it was getting darker, colder, later by the minute. I started shaking, then I started crying. Did Felix see what had happened? How long was I going to be stuck here? I screamed at the top of my lungs, "HELP!!!" "HELP!!!" "HELP!!!" until my vocal chords were strained, but I got nothing in return except for silence.

Thick flakes of snow began to fall lightly. It wouldn't be long before all sunlight would disappear. I needed to find shelter. I tried to stand up, but felt a quick stab in my leg and fell back down immediately. I crawled slowly to the nearest tree, my leg still sore, and leaned against it. I reached in my pockets and found that I still had a packet of unopened hand warmers. I had to save them. They last for hours, but I could be here all night. I knew this was going to be a fight for survival. I needed to focus on staying warm for as long as possible.

I kept wiggling my toes and moving my body to stay warm. I felt the frigid wind begin to pick up and I shivered to the bone. Then all of a sudden, a lightbulb idea popped up in my head. I could make a cave under the snow to stay warm and protect myself from the freezing wind. And I started to dig next to the trunk of the evergreen.

I stared at the small pit in the snow and curled inside, pulling my ski goggles down over my ears trying to preserve warmth. I felt sheltered by the thick evergreen tree over me, but the wind continued to pick up. The powdery snow was swept off ground and was being blown off the trees, turning into a snow storm. My hand practically numb, I removed my mittens for a minute to open my last packet of hand warmers. I unzipped my jacket pocket and shoved them inside, zipping them up tightly trying to create pockets of warmth. I breathed deeply and tried to distract myself from the situation I was in. Not that any of this was our fault, but gosh, Felix and I are probably never going to be allowed to ski by ourselves ever again. If I even make it out of here alive no no no I'm not even going to go there. I'm not going to go there. I just need to stay put. I just need to stay put.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours as I patiently waited to be rescued, lying in that pit under a tree, my leg still aching. There was almost no visibility. The darkness had swallowed up every drop of daylight. My stomach growled with hunger. The snow storm had now turned into a blizzard. I shivered to the bone and dug my fingers into my hand warmers to keep them warm. Someone had likely seen where I had fallen, either that snowboarded or my brother. so the search and rescue team would know my approximate location. The blizzard must have delayed my rescue. That was when I heard my name being called faintly, "Vera!" It started out soft, but it grew louder as they came closer. "Vera!" "Vera!"

I used every last drop of strength in me and crawled out of the pit under the tree. And stood briefly on my knees. I could barely see two meters in front of me. I felt dizzy and woozy. I cried out "HELP! I'M OVER HERE!" But my voice could barely be heard through the blizzard. I waved my arm briefly, but a gush of strong wind knocked me over to my side. As I covered my face and head to protect myself from the wind and snow I heard "VERA!? ARE YOU VERA? WE'RE SEARCH AND RESCUE!!" I couldn't get up, and I couldn't respond. But help was finally here.