Chapter 27
‘I’ve never been on a ski lift before,’ Alice confided to Lola, as they stood outside the Mürren Ski School office, at the bottom of the baby slope.
It was a week since Vanessa’s visit, which had been short but oh-so-sweet, and Alice had been thinking a lot about her surroundings. The more she stood at her windows looking out the more she itched to be living in it, like there were shadow puppets of a past Alice that wanted to break through the screen.
The village was bubbling with holidaymakers now, decked out in brightly coloured snowsuits or geometric salopettes and ski jackets, dragging skis taller than them or rental snowboards criss-crossed on the bottom with the signs of fun had by previous visitors. But still it felt calm, with a peaceful, chilled vibe. Alice adjusted her goggles, glad to have taken Lola’s advice and hired polarised ones, as the bright sun bounced off the snow.
‘Well, I’m not surprised you’ve not been on a ski lift, not having been on a snowboard or set of skis before, either,’ replied Lola. ‘But we’re not going high to begin with. In fact we don’t even hit the lift unless we go up another level, so don’t panic. We’re going up that baby slope for now.’
A toddler whooshed down the incline in front of her, fat little legs and arms making a tiny stick figure in the padded onesie she wore. She drifted to a stop and fell face first into the snow.
Lola laughed at Alice’s panicked face. ‘She’s fine.’ As predicted, the little girl pushed herself up, giggling her head off. ‘That’ll be you in a minute.’
‘The whooshing or the falling on my face?’
‘Both.’
‘Let’s go then.’ Alice picked up her board and started up the slope, her boots feeling heavy and alien on her feet, but making a satisfying stomping sound in the snow.
‘That’s the spirit,’ said Lola, ‘Except we’re not going anywhere yet.’
‘Oh.’ Alice stopped.
‘First of all we’re gonna strap our leading foot into our snowboards. Your front foot, Alice.’
Alice bent over and fiddled with the ridged straps. It took a few goes before she managed to pull them tight instead of just unclipping them over and over again, but finally her ‘leading’ foot was locked in.
‘Great,’ said Lola. ‘Now follow me; we’re just going to walk a tiny bit up this slope and then practise putting our other foot up on the board and gliding down. Real slow.’
Alice stepped forward and smacked the board into the back of her calf. She took another step and landed the board flat, and it started to take off down the almost flat slope, causing her to hop rapidly in a circle until she fell to the ground.
‘It’s okay, this is the hardest bit,’ Lola lied. ‘Is your leg hurting at all, though? Shout if you want to stop.’
‘No, it’s okay, my sore leg is the other one, the one safely strapped in.’ Alice struggled back to her feet and managed to, very slowly, shuffle her way towards Lola. Jesus, this was tough on the calf muscles.
They spent the next ten minutes learning how to take your loose foot up onto the board and let gravity bring you a couple of metres towards the ground again. Lola told Alice to keep her arms straight and let the curve of the slope take her. Take her it did. She fell each time.
‘It’s time to go to the top,’ Lola said.
‘To the top of the mountain?’
‘The top of the baby slope. We’re going to use the rope tow.’ Lola made her way towards a slow-moving rope that ran up the centre of the beginners’ zone and beckoned to Alice to follow, which she did, clumsily. ‘So just grab hold of the rope and swing your foot up on to the board. I’ll meet you at the top.’
It was easier said than done, and Alice wobbled and stumbled and clung her way until she was level with Lola, at which point she wobbled and stumbled her way towards her, the awkward snowboard still dangling from one foot. By the time she’d reached Lola and sat down, her hair was frizzing out under her helmet, her hands were sweating inside her gloves and her body was tired.
She tried telling herself it was the bulk of her clothing, the stiff angle of her boots that didn’t allow her ankles to move, the drag of the edge of the snowboard in the snow, but actually it was highly likely worsened by her lack of physical activity over the past few months.
Lola, on the other hand, had glided up as if she were on a travellator to first class.
But that was okay. Alice was taking a step forward for getting her fitness back. That was the best she could do.
‘Sit,’ said Lola, and Alice obeyed gladly, the snow cold but dry through her thick salopettes. ‘Now, here’s where ski school really starts. Lesson one. Look around and feel gratitude for your surroundings.’
It was such an unexpectedly to-the-point command that Alice found herself doing so before even thinking it through. Her eyes swept over the jagged outlines of the mountains before her, the streaks of white snow weaving through grey rock and dark green trees, the bright open sky, the bustle of the village, the sloped roofs of Mürren. She found her home for the season among the rooftops and smiled, wondering what Bear was up to with Noah. She felt Lola’s eyes watching her. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It is, but I want you to look beyond thelook, and I want you to feel it. Don’t look at me, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing.’
‘I don’t think I understand.’
