My heart races. The pole is vibrating pretty steadily, which tells me it’s windy up there. The storm is likely here.
Then the radio crackles, and a voice comes through. “Hello! This is Gemma Lowell. I’m with Ski Patrol at the base of Paradise Valley. Are you okay?”
Anna’s shoulders relax as she smiles and grabs my arm.
“Yes. We were coming down the Sonora trail, and the avalanche started just as we came to the Sky Lodge. We were able to get inside,” I explain. “Most of the windows are broken, but the building is intact. No electricity or running water, but we have wind in the fireplace, so we’re going to start a fire. My ski buddy is close to hypothermia, so that should help.”
“Is it just the two of you?” she asks.
“Yes. We have our avalanche beacon going. It was pretty quiet over here as we skied down. Though there was a snowboarder who whizzed by just before the avalanche.”
“That side of the mountain was closed, so that’s good.”
I look over at Anna, and her eyes are wide.
“We’d just skied down a short time before,” I tell the Ski Patrol agent. “We didn’t know.”
“It probably closed just after you left. Do you have any food?”
“We have some snacks and water, and the ability to melt the snow.”
“Any injuries? Are you safe and able to move around?”
“No injuries, and we’re in the building with plenty of room,” I confirm.
Then another voice comes on the line. “This is Jim Crawley with Fire and Rescue. There’s a huge storm coming in. It looks to dump several feet of snow over the next twenty-four hours. Are you comfortable where you are?”
“We have shelter, water, and food. We’ll be fine,” I assure him.
Anna tears up. I know this is not what she wanted.
“We’ll start a fire for warmth.” I say this more for Anna’s sake than for those on the radio. “Windows are broken throughout the lodge, so it’s a little drafty, but we’re fine.”
Anna leans close to the radio. “This is Anna Standing. Can you please let my mother know I’m fine? Her name is Felicity Standing, and she’s staying at Harrah’s.” She spells her name for him and gives him her room number.
“No problem,” he says. “Should we let anyone else know?”
I really have no one to tell, and that gives me pause. But I don’t have time to think about that now. “No, Felicity is the only one,” I tell them.
“We’ll continue to check in with you and give you updates. We’ll also leave someone at the radio in case you have any problems.”
I thank them, and we sign off for now, as I know they have to be busy.
Anna takes a deep breath and gives me a nod. “I think I saw a pile of wood by the pizza oven downstairs, but I’m not sure.”
“Let’s go look.”
We traipse back downstairs and find about a quarter of a cord of wood in the small pizza restaurant. It won’t last long, and I wonder if we should ration it in case we’re here for a few days. We’re pretty deep in the snow, even up on the third floor of the building, and after the storm, we won’t have much daylight. Only a wall of snow.
While we’re downstairs, we check out the kitchen. The pantries are all empty, except for a giant can of peaches. Anna turns it around in her hands. “I don’t know if that’s good news or not.”
I pull out my multi-tool. “We’ll be able to get it open.”
We walk back up to the third floor, and Anna’s jacket is dripping. I’m going to get concerned about frostbite here shortly.
I fill up the fireplace, using wrapping and boxes from the gift shop as kindling, and pull out the matches in my emergency kit. “Cross your fingers,” I tell her as I strike the first match. The wood is a little wet, but with some additional cardboard and blowing on it, the fire finally starts.
“You are quite the Eagle Scout,” Anna teases.