In the winter of 2011, I realized I had truly amazing friends. In December, during winter break, my friends and I went to Mount Snow. I was accompanied by Travis, Nick, and Elaine. It seemed this day of skiing would be like any other occasion, but this was not the case.
Back in elementary school, the four of us were forced to be together in classes, but it wasn’t until 5th grade that our group of four emerged. There was even a point in my childhood when I wasn’t fond of Travis Riccardi. I used to think that he was just a weird, strange boy, but later in life he grew on me. Skiing brought us together. I can’t recall how it really started, but Friday nights were sacred. Every Friday we all would meet up at Jiminy to ski until closing. We could all agree that skiing was one of the best things in life. Being able to feel free and racing down the mountain was our passion. Even when a few from our group attended different schools and became more distant, the friendship still remained strong. Up until the winter of 2011, I didn’t realize how much these three people meant to me and how each of them would affect my life even in the year 2014.

In 2011 each of us were 13 years old and did not have cell phones or a way to communicate with our parents. Elaine was given a phone to use this one day just so that the four of us could ski alone. The day had started off early. We got to the mountain at opening and planned to meet up for lunch in the afternoon. The four of us set off to ski the entire mountain. As we completed more and more of the mountain, we started to go on unmarked trails in the woods, which is really no big deal usually. The trails in the woods are usually well maintained and have tracks from many people venturing off. Anyhow, each of us decided to go off the trail and follow the marks of others to get some good skiing in. It’s usually harder skiing in the woods with obstacles in the way, but it’s extremely fun being off all by your own, making new tracks in the deep powder. As we went along, there continued to be ski tracks that we were following, and at a point in the “trail,” there was a split. We had picked the “easier” path that was downhill instead of up, thinking that this would save us time and energy.

As we proceeded down the path, the tracks became fainter. By now we had ventured in the woods for about a half hour, not really thinking of the time or how much ground we had covered. We were taking pictures with Elaine’s camera and were goofing around, having snowball fights; we started to forget about time and place. I remember being the one, of course, to say that maybe we should go back. The woods were getting thicker, and I could feel my body starting to ache. I am the mother of the group—always being the one to try to make the right decision—but my friend Nick—the very intelligent, clumsy fool that he is—had already started to proceed far into the woods. I let my friends convince me that the trail would end shortly, insuring me that we had done this off- trail riding before and that the woods eventually come to an end. Logically I understood this fact and agreed to continue forward.

We continued to follow the path and abruptly it ended, just completely ended. Now we had no idea which direction to go. The weird part was there weren’t marks from when the skier or snowboarder should have turned around to go back. Each of us was dumbfounded by the end of the trail. We had already come so far to turn back.

We moved along the beaten-down path, covered in untouched snow to get a better glimpse of the area. I had known we were lost, but of course none of us wanted to admit it. I asked my friend Elaine for the time, and she told me her phone was dead—an action commonly done by Elaine. She was never prepared or on time; still to this day this is Elaine’s way in life. So now we were stuck in the woods without the time or any useful electronic device.

It had to be close to noon by now, and we were supposed to meet Mrs. Iwanicki for lunch at 1 pm. As a group we decided to keep moving forward. It was a strange movement because we were on skis. We moved downhill and across the mountain, moving to the left. There were times when we would catch speed and have to grab limbs of trees to prevent a crash. By this point many friends would get angry with each other, but none of us did. We were just mostly concerned about getting out of the woods before the mountain closed, or the worse option: to get out of the woods off Mount Snow’s property. Most people would be able to look at the map and know what trail we were originally on, but of course no one was paying attention. There was no one coming for us. Ski patrol and our parents couldn’t help. As we descended even further into the woods, there was no way to turn back. We had crossed streams and taken our skis off numerous times to climb rocks and barriers in the way. I was becoming miserable, being extremely tired and hungry.

It came to a point where Nick and Elaine got split up. Elaine had slipped down the side of the mountain on top of rocks. She was able to recover from her fall but told me not to follow her. Nick was too far away to communicate with. All of a sudden, Elaine was gone, and so was Nick. How did this happen? How did we all get separated in the middle of the woods? I was scared for my friends, and I was scared of telling Mrs. Iwanicki and our parents that I lost their children. I knew we would get out, but now I also had to find each of my friends. I was terrified, so I yelled to Travis, who was the only friend in sight or screaming distance. I demanded that he stay with me and not leave me like the others did, not that they did it on purpose or intentionally.

We walked for a while with our skis over our shoulders, not able to move in the woods. It was extremely tiring. I was cold but also sweating, my goggles were scratched beyond the point of usefulness, and my gloves were torn. The woods were beautiful. The view and the fresh air were extraordinary. I wanted so badly to just be able to see a lodge, or a trail, or lunch, but I also loved being where I was. As we proceeded to move, the woods became not as thick. Hope started to become restored. I started to pick up the pace. Ahead we could see a trail, a ski trail, a trail we were actually supposed to be on. The trail was actually closed, but it was still a good sign. Eventually we could get to a chairlift or the base. I was ecstatic that we had made it out. Travis and I had decided to descend down the ungroomed trail. I was extremely scared that we would have to go back or search for Elaine and Nick, but to our surprise there they were waiting at the bottom of the trail. Each of us was relieved to find each other. Nick had gotten out of the woods with Elaine ten minutes earlier than Travis and I.

We had to walk to the nearest chairlift, but each of us didn’t talk about what we were going to tell Mrs. Iwanicki. We were extremely late for lunch and didn’t know how our parents would react. We found we were on the mountain, and it turned out that we had moved to another peak. We all sat on the chairlift dumbfounded. Finally after riding multiple chairlifts and skiing multiple runs, we made our way back to our lodge. We were extremely late, after being lost in the woods for two and a half hours. We told the adults that we had taken a trail in the woods that took forever to finish, but we didn’t really dwell on the whole part about being extremely lost. She knew that we had gone off in the woods, and she knew we were back, and that’s all that mattered.

That day, while skiing down an actual trail, I realized how much I valued these three friends. Losing them in the woods made me realize how much I needed these people in my life and not dead in the woods. I knew that day that I wouldn’t actually lose these friends, but the thought crossed my mind later in the day. After this day, I knew I would stay friends with these three people for years to come.