Once Upon A Time In The Snow
I slid down a steep run at high speed, and stopped in a shower of snow, turning back towards the slope to watch Kiana cruise down. At the same time, from the end-station of a chairlift just near by, a young girl unloaded from the chair by herself, skied down about 5 metres, and wiped out in an impressive stack, losing a ski and wrapping her legs around herself in ways you wouldn't think possible without breaking a couple of femurs and severely straining a good few arteries. Kiana flew past in a whirl of snowflakes and dead chickens, and pulled up 10 metres down the slope. I stopped and looked at the girl, assessing whether she needed help or not. She crawled this way for a bit, then crab-scrabbled the other way, then sat down and gave up on life. I figured she needed help. So I chook-footed back up to where she was and set about helping her get to her feet. We got to her lost ski at the same time, so I smiled encouragingly at her while she scrambled to get her hands on ...