Five Ladies Go Skiing

by Karen Aldous

  ‘A helicopter will come,’ she insisted.

  I gripped my cheeks, praying. Faith, Ginny. I weighed up scenarios. Could I carry her? If I left her on that thread and a helicopter arrived, would she panic and move? Would the helicopter get close enough to blow her off?

  My insides churned. I looked up to her face. A tense mouth and a bobble of a nose was the only flesh I could see. Her helmet and goggles covered the rest. I couldn’t let her fall. I needed to protect her. My phone began its Rose chorus again and its presence prompted me to action.

  ‘Kim, be brave,’ I said. ‘When I lean forward, I’m going to twist and take hold of your legs. All I want you to do is lean towards me and … hug me. Is that OK?’

  I steadied my legs, hip distance apart.

  ‘Gin, no!’ she said. ‘You’ll fall.’

  ‘Have faith,’ I said, gripping a flag of rock and leaning forward, praying her hood would let her come to me. I reached out with my arms like I was taking a dive and braced myself. I lunged, twisting my body towards the patch of snow several feet below, then grabbing her legs as tight as I could, I screamed. ‘Lean.’ Her dead weight lunged on to me one side of my shoulders, one gloved hand punching my neck, squeezing hard. Our bulk hurled down. I prayed.

  In the deep quarry of snow, I reached for breath. Kim’s groin was in my face. To my relief, Kim began wriggling, she began to unfurl, and I manoeuvred where I could in the space, so she could lift her buried head. As she came up for air, I helped her straighten, her helmet knocking mine. We were in semi-darkness, our bodies creating quite a trench. She lifted her goggles on to her helmet.

  ‘Words fail me,’ she sighed.

  ‘We’re alive and in one piece,’ I replied. ‘Can you reach out?’ I ask, her boots crushing my thighs.

  ‘I think so. We’ll both have to try and stand.’ Kim positioned a boot between my legs and pushed herself against me to wrench herself up. As she worked her other foot in, I wriggled my body up and got to my feet, lifting her as she scrambled higher and climbed out.

  ‘Ooh, bright,’ she said, clutching her stomach and perching her bum on the edge of the hole then, reaching with both hands, hauled to help me up.

  On the surface, I realised our plight as the snow below us fell away. We patted and firmed the sides of the snow hole, hoping it would sustain our weight, still in survival mode. The sound of rotary blades in the distance broke the silence.

  ‘Sounds like our rescuers,’ Kim said.

  I sat beside her and instantly felt a squeeze of my arm.

  ‘You OK?’ she asked.

  ‘Just a bit bruised. What about you?’

  ‘Shaken and a bit sore from being winded, unsurprisingly. How can I ever thank you?’ she said.

  I gripped her gloved hand on my arm. ‘You would have done the same.’

  ‘You’re kidding – I don’t have that spunk. That was phenomenal. And it’s not the first time you’ve rescued me. Sweet, I owe you big time. You saved my life.’ Kim suddenly shook and let out a cry. Whipping away her hand, she buried her face. ‘Ginny, I’m so sorry about Paula and Mike. I thought I was doing the right thing. You know I love you as much as my own daughters. I would never deliberately hurt you.’

  Tears sprang out as I choked. ‘If I’m honest, Kim, I’m not sure if I was angrier with you than with Mike and Paula. I thought you had my back. Would you have told me if it wasn’t Paula?’

  ‘No.’ Kim looked up at me. ‘My decision was based purely on protecting you and what you were already coping with. I suppose what I’m saying is that in hindsight, yes it was right to tell you, even over the phone, or Skype, but on top of everything else you had going on, it seemed cruel. Can’t you see that? As a friend, it seemed the right decision to me. I wanted to save you the hurt like you saved me all those years ago, and today.’ She smiled, touching my arm again. ‘I don’t know how differently I can say it to help you understand and forgive me.’

  ‘I wish I could,’ I said meeting her tear-filled eyes. ‘I mean, just now, seeing you in danger, wondering what could have happened to you; evidently, I care about you. Mysterious when I think about it and how hurt I feel, but what I did was instinctive. It’s clearly putting things into perspective. You do still mean a lot to me. Mike’s fling, affair, call it what you will, I would have dealt with it mentally. It might still be a scar, but like mine, your life is precious, finite. Will; the girls. I could never forgive myself if I didn’t try to get you off that tiny branch.’ I inhaled, peering up at the sight of the helicopter, the noise increasing. ‘Kim, I need time. I can’t just let it go. I know I was grieving, possibly running low on esteem but I need to absorb and analyse it. You of all people know what I’m like.’

  ‘I do. And this is exactly what I feared. Your rejection. I couldn’t bear not being part of your life, especially now without Mike.’

  I raised my voice. ‘Well, honesty and loyalty is the price you pay for love and friendship, Kim. You can’t avoid conflict in life. The world is not this utopian fluffy cloud where you can wrap everyone up in cotton wool. I’m not saying knowing about them would have got me through, but hearing Mike was unfaithful was my biggest fear, the one thing I dreaded. Especially discovering it was with someone like Paula. I couldn’t bear the humiliation. Your love and support would have got me through.’

  The loud clatter of the helicopter was now above us. A wind whipped around us. I put my arm around Kim’s shoulder and hers gathered at my waist. We huddled tightly, tucking our hoods around our heads, keeping them snug, together, safe, a wave of hands to the pilot before he ascended again, and the figure of our welcome rescuer appeared and winched us up to the safety of the helicopter.

  Chapter 20

  Cathy

  Terrified didn’t even begin to describe my state as I saw the helicopter approaching. What on earth would they find?

  ‘Please, please God, let them be OK,’ I begged, again. I must have prayed more in the last twenty-five minutes than I had in my lifetime, and for a practising Catholic, that is a lot of prayer. I watched the helicopter as it whirled above us. Swiftly, a figure winched its way down as another gripped the wire from the craft in an effort to control the swaying and spinning as it disappeared just yards from where we stood. Although time seemed to slow as the thump of my chest raced, within minutes I spotted Kim’s jacket emerge from the depths; harnessed, she rotated steadily while ascending.

  ‘No stretcher at least,’ I sighed to Neil, Angie and Lou, now beside me.

  The girls had got the lift back up and skied down to us after receiving my text.

  Lou was chewing her lip, staring ahead as the wire inched its way up. ‘Well, that’s Kim. Let’s hope by some miracle Ginny follows. Presumably the medic is with her.’

  ‘Gosh, poor darlings,’ I whimpered. ‘Just the hoist will be enough to send them into shock.’

  Angie wrapped her arm around me. ‘Let’s not panic. Maybe the fact that Kim’s hoist was so quick to come up is a positive sign.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Lou said, tapping her chin and puffing her cheeks.

  I gazed at Neil watching the wire with high intensity; his cheeks still appeared hollow. Kim was up and in the helicopter to safety and he sucked his bottom lip.

  Several minutes later, we spotted Ginny being hoisted with the medic on a longer wire just below her. Thankfully, she was secured in the harness and, like Kim, she appeared to be in one piece and looking around as the helicopter winched her up to safety. I let out an almighty sigh and heard the others around me do the same. A mix of exasperation and apprehension.

  ‘Phew, what a relief neither are on a stretcher,’ Neil repeated as the winch climbed. I spun around opening my arms.

  ‘Thank God, they’re safe,’ I said as we embraced, hugging Neil along with Angie and Lou. I must have squeezed Kim’s phone too as I pulled it from my pocket. It was ringing Ginny again.

  ‘Whoops!’ I went to cancel but Ginny declined. Either the rescue services had switched it
off or she must have been sick of me ringing, I surmised, tucking my phone back into my pocket. She hadn’t answered one call, and I was desperate to see for myself Ginny and Kim were well. Just because they weren’t on a stretcher didn’t mean they weren’t hurt. Especially after a fall like that. I looked at Neil, noticing the colour returning to his complexion.

  ‘I wonder where the rescue services take them to.’

  ‘I’ll call and find out,’ he said, bending to pick up Ginny and Kim’s skis from the snow and slid each pair together. ‘Can you take these, Angie?’ He handed her all the poles, then slipped his boots into his own skis, prompting us to do the same, and then he held a pair of skis in each hand. ‘They’ll probably take them to Sion or Martigny I imagine. If we get on the lift and back to the top, I’ll ring from there. We’ll get the lift back down. They should have got there by then. I’m not sure what happened to that boarder who took Ginny out. Not that I care. I was more concerned for her.’

  ‘Is that what happened?’ Angie asked trying to make sense of it all. ‘Clearly we didn’t hear anything. Neither Lou nor I saw anything. We didn’t realise something was wrong until you texted; we were waiting at the lift.’

  Neil pointed to the spot. ‘Yeah, just there. I saw him. Totally out of control. Big guy, slammed into her back and sent her flying, then Kim went. I didn’t see what happened there. Just saw her in the air. Neither stood a chance.’

  I shuddered wondering how I was going to ski again; in fact, if any of us would want to ever ski again. I couldn’t make a fuss though – not after all that. Following Angie down as we skied to the chairlift, I felt my body still shaking. Gazing at Lou in front of me, I knew she was unnerved too. The worry on her face as she curved cautiously and carefully across with glances as though to check no boarders were hurling towards her. I found myself instinctively doing the same. Thankfully we reached the four-man chair.

  Once through the barriers, Neil clambered through with all the skis. ‘You girls go ahead on one chair; I’ll need to put the skis across my lap.’

  ‘I don’t know if I can carry on skiing,’ I said as we sat on the chairlift together and pulled down the safety bar. ‘In all honesty, I imagined both of them would be dead.’

  Lou groaned. ‘I know. I felt sick. Lucky though. They must have landed on snow. Thank God! I understand what you mean though. It certainly brings it home how easily and quickly accidents can happen.’ Her lips began to wobble. ‘Every time I hear one of those boarders behind me, that heavy scraping noise, as though they’re coming at you unable to steer, it makes me freeze. Poor things, I expect they’ll be scarred for life.’ Lou let her emotions flow and she immediately set me off again. I sniffed, and I put my arm around her shoulder feeling the tears sting the backs of my eyes.

  ‘It’s the shock coming out, I think.’ Angie quivered, trying to contain the emotion.

  Lou nodded. ‘And I’ll be honest, my initial reaction was to blame Kim. I thought maybe Ginny had lost concentration and slipped after her ordeal last night. I thought she must have been beside herself thinking about Mike betraying her, poor love.’

  I swallowed hard. Of course, the exact same thing had been going through my mind. ‘It must have been quite a blow, Kim letting her down like that as well as Mike. She’s not in a good place …’

  ‘Maybe it did contribute,’ Lou said, dabbing her eyes and seemingly wrestling with her own juxtaposition. ‘Maybe she should have told her earlier. Obviously, in Ginny’s eyes she was wrong,’ she said clenching her jaw, steeling control. ‘But who knows. If it felt right at the time, then … I’ll just be happy that they’re both in one piece.’

  I released my arm and dug into my pocket for a tissue. ‘Me too. It’s all academic when something like this happens though, isn’t it.? Although it’s nice to think we could be totally honest with one another, there are things that you hold off until the timing is better. You don’t think they’re important, but they can be to others.’ I blew my nose watching Angie in deep thought. I continued. ‘It’s human nature. We strive for an easy, peaceful life. Anthony, for example, I’ve wanted to confront him for ages about his idling, but I put it off hoping he would work it out for himself. I think I just conveniently fooled myself that I would raise the subject at a time when I thought he was in a better mood, or sober at least, so that we could discuss it. It didn’t occur to me he wasn’t coping. That’s pretty worrying, but I was so focused on what I wanted.’

  ‘Whoa, I have to put my hand up too. Oh, Cath, you’re not the first, and won’t be the last,’ Angie added. ‘This holiday has certainly had its merits. Don’t you think it’s been good for us to listen to one another’s issues and hear what others have to say about our own?’

  ‘Oh absolutely,’ I agreed.

  ‘Yes, it has,’ Lou said.

  ‘I hope so anyway,’ I said, ‘And since we spoke this morning, my mind keeps conjuring up an image of Paula’s tentacles stretching out to seduce Anthony.’

  Shaking her head, Angie grinned. ‘No. Don’t torment yourself. Paula always had a thing for Mike. I wouldn’t even be surprised if it was some sort of revenge.’

  ‘Yes, good point, but, Cathy, I think Anthony craves your attention, not that slut’s,’ Lou reasoned. ‘They were playing golf and I’m sure his mind is on more important things.’

  ‘You’re probably right. I’m actually looking forward to talking to him. I only spoke to him briefly about it. Amazingly, something’s shifted. I think Terry and Rob must have jack-knifed his thinking. He says he’s considering some options. So, fingers crossed. Like you girls suggested, it would do him good to go and see his old business partner. Look at returning part-time. Maybe business mentoring would suit him.’ I frowned. ‘I do wonder why we don’t confront things.’

  We neared the top of the chairlift. ‘At least you’ve opened the can and can discuss it when you’re home,’ Lou said, lifting her feet off the bottom bar. ‘And we’ll have to pray Ginny understands Kim’s motives in time. She’s had several nasty shocks to deal with.’

  I pushed up the top bar and prepared to ski off as we reached the top of the lift. It was there I froze. Angie must have felt the tension as I felt a gloved hand on mine. ‘Cathy, you’ll be fine. Just remember that Ginny and Kim’s was a one-off, a freak accident.’

  Virtually shushing around the mountain towards the six-man, we slowed as we reached the steeper downhill slopes, taking them with care. Scrambling off at the top of the lift, Angie helped Neil place all the skis in the rack and he took out his phone.

  ‘You ladies go and get a stiff drink while I make the call. You’ve earned it.’

  * * *

  Accompanied by Angie, Neil drove down the mountain to the hospital in Martigny where, the rescue services informed him, they had been lifted to. Lou and I went back to the chalet to change and after a text from Angie to let us know Ginny and Kim were bruised but should be released in an hour or two, we sat outside on Stefano’s terrace at La Poste, comforted in that knowledge at least. We ordered wine, which Lucien brought out to us, and Stefano followed with a large plate of consoling Margherita pizza.

  He told us he had heard about the incident as we gorged on our delicious cheesy slices and hoped Kim and Ginny would be fit for the evening celebrations. He also added that it was a blessing the weather had brightened as it kept the après-ski crowd out from under his feet whilst he and his staff were setting up the tables for the New Year feast. Even as darkness descended, and the chilly evening air nipped, we sat, patiently, guessing the shape of the vehicle headlights and hoping the next would be Neil’s Range Rover.

  Ginny

  I was alive. Still very much shaky and in shock, but it was such a huge relief to be alive, nothing missing, nothing broken, and safe, in the hospital. The rescuer on the mountain and the doctor in the helicopter were brilliant. The medic asked questions and checked out our injuries as soon as we were up inside the helicopter and unclipped. The medic was able to assess to some exten
t our capacity to move but needed to check us thoroughly. They insisted we be X-rayed for any internal damage at the hospital in case of any bleeding or injuries.

  My body ached, particularly my back, but I think it was the impact of the boarder hitting me rather than the fall. And although one side of my body felt bruised – from my head to my lower leg – I knew how a broken bone felt and I didn’t have any of that excruciating pain I had experienced when I broke a bone playing netball as a teen. From the moment we arrived at the hospital, the staff were amazing; their English excellent as they questioned and examined us, whizzing us both in turn off to X-ray and to the MRI scanner.

  Kim was still being scanned when the nurse brought me a welcome coffee. I was resting on the bed reflecting, my eyes drooping, tired but my mind highly active. In a flash my life could have ended. It took some comprehension. A few inches over, I would have plummeted to my death for sure. And Kim’s hood, hanging by a thread. How that branch hadn’t snapped, I don’t know.

  ‘Tsch!’ I sipped at the hot coffee and quickly placed it down. My stomach churned just thinking about the up-draught that the helicopter had created and how easily it could have blown her off that branch. We had both been extremely lucky. And this week had meant so much. I had been pretty unmotivated over the last year – and naturally upset by the revelations last night and of course today’s incident – but this week had undoubtedly begun to alter my mood. I no longer felt like someone had bitten a large chunk out of me.

  ‘Yuck, it’s all so reminiscent of those IVF days,’ Kim said, bringing me out of my reverie as the nurse walked her back to the bed next to me. ‘All the prodding and scans.’

  I smiled. ‘I’ll bet.’

  ‘I don’t suppose it’s much fun for you either,’ Kim said flattening out her cover. ‘All that time you spent with Mike with his chemo, sitting around in waiting rooms, the hours waiting for the drip to do its stuff, putting him to bed afterwards, clearing up the sick.’