Soon I could hear the thunderous sound getting louder by the second. Muffled cries were choked off as skiers fell under the avalanche. I glanced back and what I saw was too scary to describe because it was like a wave of snow. The snow crest was really high and it looked like it was eating the other skiers up. Kannan was right behind me, his face pinched with fear. This great tidal wave of snow was, bit by bit overtaking the skiers. When I was one of only a small number still ahead I turned again to see if it was far behind. It was just literally metres away. This urged me to go faster but soon I was out of breath. I looked back again and it was right behind me. I crouched lower over my skis, tucking my head down to become as streamlined as possible. I tried to steer to the side of the spreading fan of the avalanche.
Then I hit a bump on the slope, which threw me off balance and I fell in a heap. I tried to get up and carry on but I had twisted my ankle in the spill so I fell back down.
Instantly the rumble was all around me. I was swept off my feet violently and for a moment I was thrown up onto the air. Next moment I was tumbled over and over like clothes in a washing machine. The light was dim and I saw a blur of colour from my own limbs. On and on I rolled with the snow and it seemed to go on forever.
Eventually my world slowly stopped revolving and I remember the silence. I was curled up in a loose ball and there was an empty pocket of air under my chin and chest. My hands were by my side and luckily my ski pole was still attached to my right wrist. I began to poke at the snow above my head to make more room to manoeuvre and breathe easier. It was dark and cold but a faint glow showed me which way was up. I was really scared of dying and was getting colder as well.
After a while I had regained my strength so I tried to move to a comfortable position and that meant that I had to dig a bit to my left for more room and after digging it was really comfortable but it was still cold. I breathed warm air on myself to be warmer but it vanished as quick as it had come.
My throat was really dry and I needed some water. I had a brainwave. What if I ate the snow, that would men I get water and some snow would be gone as well. I tried it but the water was too cold to do it again so I stopped. I also breathed some warm air on the snow, which then turned to water, which dripped on my shoe and went through which was icy.
Now that I was refreshed I started the slow, painful job of digging. I tried to get my ski pole to break through the surface so that I could get more fresh air. I dug slowly and even though I was wearing good gloves the coldness was slowly beginning to show. After about twenty or more minutes I new that I had broken through the snow surface because suddenly fresh, cool air and light flooded in. My fingers were freezing and they were aching after all that digging and I thought I was going to get frostbite so I stopped to rest for a bit breathing in only rationed amounts of air.
Even though my hands were too cold to do any thing the odds of survival were all on my side. Then I suddenly thought about Kannan and how I forced him to come and if anything were to happen to him I would never forgive myself ever again.
With this thought I was digging furiously but it was very time consuming. I made my small air hole wider by putting the pole through the shaking it around. While digging I was already yelling at the top of my voice bit it was drowned by a low rumbling noises and I soon realized it was helicopter’s engines.
The trick when you’re digging is that all the snow you dug out from the top you had to put under you feet so due to this there was more space above your head and I was rising steadily as I packed the snow tight.
My hands then reached the surface and I was trying to hold on to the side but each time I tried the snow just gave way and dropped at my feet so I had to try again. By now I was in a deep pit with an open top. I stuck my red gloves out and waved and yelled at the same time.
Then, I felt two big, firm hands gripping mine and they were pulling me up slowly but steadily. I sighed of relief. I was saved!
I looked around, glad to see daylight. I remembered Kannan and I tried to estimate where about he was roughly when I last saw him and I started to dig with my bare hands just a few feet from where I was pulled up.
I was digging in a wide circle around so I could cover more ground. Now I was getting really desperate for my brother and was digging all over the place for him. By then I had attracted the attention of a few rescue workers and they told me to stop and come down to the shelters but I shook my head furiously and asked them if they could help me or leave me alone. One volunteered to help so the other went.
“Save me.” suddenly I heard a shout to my left. At once I knew two things firstly the person was alive but mostly I knew it was my brother. I was relieved but I spun around and started digging at the source of the spot. After a tense few minutes he stuck his hand up and I pulled him out.
After a few minutes he slowly said, “Thanks, I’m fine want to ski again,” and laughed.
I gave him a drink to calm him down. I made sure my brother had everything and was perfectly all right. I told him how I had managed to dig myself out while exaggerating a little here and there so he thought I was very brave. He told me how his jacket was lost somewhere and when I turned to dig in the place I found my brother, he said it was during the avalanche. He said he was cold so I gave him my jacket.
We then all walked slowly when a rescue worker came to us and gave us a blanket to wrap around and took us to our parents who were at the bottom of the slope crying not knowing what had happened to us as they were too scared to ski with us.
I then realised how horrible it would have been for my parents if only I had survived.
