The bitter air was assaulting  my already chilled face.  It was in the middle of January and I was standing at the entrance to a skiing trail that I had to go down. This trail was a branch off another trail.  To get to the good slopes, it was essential to go down this one.  Unfortunately this slope was almost sheer ice and it made it hard to go down.  I had done it before but it scared me.

This slope was always exceedingly icy so it was difficult to stay in control of your skis as you went down the hill.  It was like a highway being the only slope leading to all but one of the blue square trails, which were the medium level trails.  One thing that made it more comfortable was that it was short, so on your way down you could not lose complete control of your skis.  As soon as we got there my little brother zoomed down the hill way out of control, but yet enjoying it.  I do not know how he does it, the speed?  I hate going that fast.

He stopped at the beginning of the next trail we were going down.  My mom turned to me and said “Your turn honey.”  I looked at her nervously and shook my head.

  “You can do it Jackie, go ahead” I shook my head again.

 She sighed,  “All right, I’ll go ahead and you can follow in my tracks.”  I nodded.

  “O.K. see you in a bit” and she went down the hill in control avoiding the ice as well as she could, if only I could go down as well as her.

I was so scared to go down that hill.  I was not a fan of icy hills at all.  Fear was running through me, I was really nervous.  My mom and little brother were standing at the top of the next hill we were going down waiting for me.  “Come on down sweetie” yelled my mom up to me.

”It’s O.K. Jackie you can do it” screamed my little brother in his junior, high pitch voice.  I took a deep breath, looked down at the slope once more imagining my path and pushed off to go down the slope.

Crunch scrape crunch, my skis slid over the ice.  I turned and went across the ice straight into the powdered snow on the side of the hill.  Wow this is going pretty well!  That is when I started to lose control.  My skis slipped on the slope and I was trying to get to the other side of the slope where the snow was.  A thought popped into my head, what if I fall of the side of the hill?  At this I turned and went across the other way but it was just ice where I was.

I slipped and slid over to the other side of the hill careful to avoid the sides, but I lost control and I started going down the hill way faster than my liking.  I hate going this fast.  What if I can’t stop? My question was answered, I sped past my mom and little brother unable to stop.  Uh oh what am I going to do now do I have to walk all the way back up the hill?  I tried and tried to stop,but I could not. I finally stopped farther down the hill.  Oh no now what have I done!   It was too hard to walk up the hill to where my mom and little brother were.  I was stuck.

I took out my map of the mountain and checked where I was.  I was standing in between the trail that I was supposed to go down and another trail.  This other trail was paralleling the first trail that my mom and brother were going down and both trails ended at about the same place.  Great I have not messed up to bad.  I yelled up to them “there is another trail leading to the same place, I can take this one and meet you at the end.”

“Great see you soon” is what I heard in response from my mother.

I turned and went down the trail.  The trees were surrounding this trail, the light was shining through the bare branches.  The trail looked just like a picture from a book, it was all so beautiful.  I thought  “this is a pretty trail, I would like to go down this trail again.”  I was by myself but I was happy, excited and entertained.

I came out at the end of the trail and went to meet up with my mom.  I felt happy and free and calm.  “Mom that trail was amazing, we should go down that one together.”

“Alright Jackie we can do that” said my mother.

The End