By: Evan Mei

I could feel the cold starting to claw at my skin like a wild animal. Clouds of smoke billowed out of my mouth like a fireplace, and the weight of my skis was increasing. Staring out the side of the lift, I saw a kid go down the mountain’s black diamond, whooping and hollering all the way. Soon enough, I would meet his fate. I looked around me, and all of my friends were rubbing their hands in excitement, chatting about teachers and homework and who knows what. The top of the hill was getting closer by the minute, and once I opened my eyes, we were there.

Reluctantly, I stepped out of the carriage that took us up here. The boots made it ten times harder to walk. I felt as if I was stepping with a metal board attached to my feet. I clipped on my skis, and my friends picked out the route. After we discussed where we were going, everyone started down the mountain. First was the terrain park, easy enough. But next was the hill I feared most, the black diamond. At first I decided against it, but as the hill got closer and closer, I decided I would take the leap of faith and go down. Once the group was caught up, we went down, one by one. Once I skied over the edge, a wall of wind whipped in my face. The wind going across the side of my helmet was deafening, and my skis ran across the snow. I skied in the zigzag pattern, trying not to pick up too much speed.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t working too well. As I started accelerating more and more, I passed all of my friends, one by one. Suddenly, I was at the end of the hill. I took a hard right, and miraculously, I slowed down. Finally, after all this time, I completed my first black diamond, all without falling once.