Personal Narative

The Day I Saved My Brother

Waiting in line for the chairlift at Hidden Valley Ski Resort, I was freezing and could hardly feel my toes. The snow was falling so heavily that I could barely see the people at the front of the line. My brother was standing next to me and we were talking about what slope we wanted to ride first. There were the easy green trails that were for the beginners but we had been skiing for many years and decided to start the day with the most fearsome of all the slopes, the double black diamond! After waiting in line for what seemed an eternity, we reached the front of the line. The wind was blowing fiercely, so we pulled our facemasks up from around our necks so they were snug against our noses. Not only did they shield our faces form the harsh wind, but our breath was redirected into the mask, giving us a warm sensation on our noses; it helped keep us a little warmer. As the gates squeaked open, we pushed ourselves with our poles and stopped at the big red line and began waiting. The chairlift swung around uneasily and rocked back and forth but we remained calm and sat down on to the chairlift. The ride up was a rough one with the constant swaying of the chairlift, but we pulled the cold bar down from behind us and sat safely holding on. We began to talk and said the same thing we always do on our first ride up. If we get separated at any time we were to just finish the trail and wait at the bottom by the chairlift for the other. We finally reached the top of the mountain and began looking for the black sign with two white diamonds on it. The snow was falling even heavier at the top, so we had to squint our eyes to read the small signs. We located the double black diamond and began our long descent down the hardest trail there. As I cut back and forth splashing the snow up from under my skis, I looked to my sides and didn’t see my brother anywhere. I continued down the mountain and waited for him by the chairlift. At the bottom