Part 1

I was breathless, staring out into the snow covered valley with the shapes of dark trees surrounding a tiny cluster of lights, all of which were from a lonely ski resort surrounded by a dozen hotels. It looked much like the sky, this great sea of darkness with a myriad of snowflakes falling from the heavens, glittering as they spotted the scenery replacing the stars who had gone into hiding. It was beautiful.

Feeling the winter breeze spit fluffy snowflakes into my face leaving in its’ wake melting slushy ice, I pulled up my neck warmer which doubled as half a ski mask. I was alone, just the advanced ski slopes, me and my rented snowboard, it was 6pm. I was alone because the sun decided to bid Northern Japan farewell along with the rest of us holiday makers in this winter wonderland, retiring in the afternoon at 3 like she did in all countries in the North during their winter months. Everyone else including my friends had headed back to the comfort of their hotels at 4 due to the lack of sunlight. I suppose all of them didn’t know the joys of having the slopes all to yourself.

I pulled down my goggles, tinting the world orange, staring down the advanced slope illuminated by the numerous spotlights that made sure skiers and boarders alike could see the slope and eventually guiding them back to the ski resort that lay ahead somewhere in the confetti of lights below. Standing up and aiming my snowboard right down the 70 degree decent I held my breath and took the plunge.

Jumping a foot in the air forward I sent myself racing down hill in breakneck speed, breakneck provided I crashed into a tree or worse, crash through the plastic barrier and fly off the mountain. I felt the gentle licks of snow turn into merciless whips on the unprotected parts of my face; I felt the rush of adrenaline through my body. I felt alive.

But that wasn’t enough; I wanted more, we extreme sports junkies always look for more. I found it in the bunch of trees further up ahead to the right of the wide and well used way down, a path no more than 3 feet wide, barely enough to squeeze myself through. Making a sharp right turn I kicked up powdery snow into the air, sparkling like camera flashes in the night.

I heard and felt twigs scratch against the board as I bolted into the small pathway, and without thinking made a sharp left when the path began to turn widening into another path about 6 meters wide which ran parallel to the main one, hardly used at all covered in powder snow, the best kind to snow board on at high speeds. It was perfect all but for one thing, the side of the path had no protected plastic barrier and it lead straight off the slope and into the valley below.

But no that wasn’t enough to slow me down and I sped ahead like an energizer bunny powered by a nuclear fusion reactor. I thought at that very moment, I was unstoppable, I was wrong.


Part 2

Suddenly I saw a dark figure on the path, my mind recognizing it as a person with a snowboard sitting on the snow inching down the slope. I remembered seeing many other beginners on advanced slopes inching down them carefully, not realizing ‘advanced slope’ meant 70 degree drops.

“Excuse me!”

The figure turned out to be a girl who called out to me as a zipped past her causing me to turn my board into a sharp right, my heels facing the sky I dug the front of my snowboard into the slope, kicking up a smokescreen of beautiful powered snow.

“Yes?”

I asked as I stopped facing her, pulling down my neck warmer so that my voice wasn’t muffled.

“Thank god you speak English! This is sort of embarrassing but…”

She paused as she looked at me, who wore a serious look stoic enough to prove to her I wasn’t going to burst out laughing.

“Okay you see the beginner slopes closed at about 5 because they decided it was too icy… I didn’t really get the reason since they all spoke Japanese and used hand gestures…”

I nodded as she paused and continued

“All I know that is that it’s closed and I wanted to practice some more so went to the easiest advanced slope and the ski lift kept going up!”

“Until you find yourself looking down a sheer drop and it scares you to death… And since you’re already here you tell yourself that you must as well try making your way down…”

I continued for her as she stared at me with an open mouth

“Yes… Exactly…”

“Happened to me 3 years ago, I inched down for an hour before dying of embarrassment when I had to explain it to my friends.”

I began to recall telling the terrifying tale of being stuck on the side of a steep slope, where any wrong move count sent me tumbling down it like a tragic ragdoll. Only to have my friends burst out in laughter and ridicule me all week, until I got better than all of them.

“Come on,”

I said with a smile

“Let’s get you down.”

Got on my knees and began to undo the straps on her snowboard before she stopped me.

“I think I want to practice a bit… I’m only here for a week and back in the Florida where there isn’t any snow so I must as well make the most use of my time here!”

She said cheerfully as I nodded getting back up to my feet inching down with her, sliding sideways an inch and stopping with my toes as she did with her heels. But she wasn’t remotely good at it, falling onto her rear after seconds of getting to her feet and inching down.

“Try bending your knees a bit more, like this.”

I twirled round and demonstrated, the ex-snowboard instructor kicking in as she followed suit.

“Like this?”

She bent her knees and found it worlds easier to dig her heels into the snow.

“Beautiful!”

But I had jinxed it and she fell again, I twirled again hopping up to her, helping her to her feet to try again.

“So what’s your name?”

I asked, looking at her face, her goggles blocked half of it but I could make out a sharp chin and thin lips.

“It’s Clara and yours?”

“Leo.”

I extended my hand and we shook hands as we continued inching down the path together slowly, I believed it should join the main one up ahead.


Part 3

She was getting the hang of it, and I went lower and lower down the path and made her inch down towards me, treating her like a student in one of my classes earlier in the year. All was well until she began to bank right headed for the unprotected side of the path she began to scream in panic, not knowing how to turn her board.

“Fall on your butt!”

I yelled as I hopped up as fast as I could in a frenzy of panic and adrenaline. But it was too late, she fell on her bum as her board went off the side of the steep slope, I jumped and grasped her arm as the weight of the board pulled the rest of her body down the slope pulling me along for a ride.

I pulled myself to her level as we began to slide down a steep hill, snapping twigs from naked bushes and barely avoiding tree after tree, I pulled her close to me and wrapped myself protectively around her, this was my fault, and we shouldn’t have been practicing in a place like that.

I pulled my eyes shut and waited for a sharp pain, perhaps a twig stabbing me in the arm or bashing my face into a tree, it was during times like this that I thanked god I had a helmet.

I don’t know how long we tumbled downhill with her screaming her lungs out, taking bruises and scratches from the bare vegetation, but when we stopped her screaming stopped and I opened my eyes finding myself lying in foot deep snow with Clara in my arms. I took off my goggles, leaving them hanging on my neck with my neck warmer which was now covered in ice.

I released her and she fell into the snow, taking off her own goggles as I watched snowflakes flutter down from the sky gracefully, landing upon my face. It felt like I was in paradise for a moment until the adrenaline ran out and I felt the bruises I had gained from the long tumble.

“You okay?”

I checked with Clara as she laid still in the snow with her gloved palm cover her face. I panicked thinking I had smothered her face to injury and turned, pulling her hands off her face only to see sad apologetic eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

I raised an eyebrow, a snow flake trapped in it.

“I shouldn’t have panicked and just fell like you asked me.”

“You didn’t have time, and besides it’s my fault for letting you practice in a dangerous place like that… I had forgotten it wasn’t protected…”

“So did I.”

We sighed as we got to our feet and looked around at our surroundings, we were surrounded by twigs and a few trees, and a clearing was to our left which according to my sense of direction, judging from the decline of the slope behind us, led to the hotel. Thank the lord the snow was white was reflecting a miniscule amount of light from the spotlights all the way up where we fell from.

I made sure she was okay as I detached the boards from our feet and helped her up, after which we struggled through a foot of snow towards the general direction of the ski resort.

We talked at length, I told her how I landed a job as a snowboard instructor just six months back, finally finding the thing I loved doing most, how me and my friends had done everything together since secondary school where my education ended. I explained to her I had acquired a loan and moved to the mountains near Melbourne 3 years ago, chasing my dream of snowboarding for a living… Even though at that time I didn’t have a clue how to do so but me being me I tried anyway.

I discovered that she was still a student, in some University or another in America studying for a double degree in Social Science and Business. I also discovered that she loved Japanese culture, which was the main reason why she and her friends had planned to come to Japan for their winter break… A cosplay convention in Hokkaido… Which wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, at least it wasn’t until she began to explain how she could just be someone else and have a blast, taking a break from her life for a moment. Something I wanted, only that I wanted escape. It was these slopes I found my escape.


Part 4

We walked for half an hour, so my watch said, it was 6.45 and the ski resort would close at 7.30.

“I can’t go anymore my legs are beginning to feel like rubber bands.”

She stated as she shoveled a pile of snow aside forming a rift in the sea of white and sat down. I sighed and looked at my watch again and shrugged

“I suppose we have the time.”

I shoveled aside more snow and made room for myself, snowfall slowly forming a blanket on us. I looked around us and my heart felt at peace. We were in the valley, all around us were trees and snow sloping upwards until they met the sky a great distance away, the sky which now looked black with an orange tinge, like the sun was elsewhere but continued to send her blessings.

“Beautiful.”

I muttered, catching Clara’s attention

“What?”

She questioned me as I suddenly snapped back into my body, sitting in the neatly shoveled clearing.

“Nothing… I was looking about… Isn’t it beautiful?”

She raised her head out of the 1 foot deep hole in the snow and flashed an expression which did not agree.

“I find it quite freaky, it’s almost pitched black with dark trees everywhere and it’s so quiet I can hear my ears ring.”

“I find it beautiful.”

I replied, looking back out to my surroundings in awe.

“How in the world is it beautiful?”

I stared at her and smiled.

“Do you hear that?”

I asked, causing her to stick her head out again for a moment

“Hear what?”

“The dead silence… There is not a soul out here, not man to destroy these woods, not a car to blacken the snow.”

She looked at me, interest began to flare in her eye and I indulged her.

“I could sit here a thousand years, watching as empires of man rise and fall while this scene remains the same.”

I felt the desire for the same timelessness of the mountain, that I could spend eternity here.

“This is a beauty which no man can touch or destroy.”

Clara pulled herself closer to me to see what I was looking at, the valley and where the mountain touches the sky.

“True… If you put it that way it looks so peaceful and timeless…”

I nod as she looks at me in the eye

“But wouldn’t that be quite lonely?”

“Being lonely is beautiful too, Just not too lonely.”

I replied, feeling the lonesomeness of the mountains possess my soul.

“What do you mean?”

Looks of confusion caused her brow to frown, curiosity creeping into her eyes now.

“Imagine if we were alone.”

“We are alone…”

I shook my head

“Imagine if we could live comfortably forever and that there was no ski resort to return these boards to, imagine if we didn’t have our friends to explain why the heck we’re so late to, imagine that our plane tickets were no more, the airport was no more, no school to return to, no work, and no society.”

She began to feel something within her stir, some love, the love of freedom, to be free from the chains of every of man’s devices.

“There is nothing just timeless eternity, you, me and the mountain.”

My words stripped away the world of man and for a moment, just that moment, it was beautiful.



Part 5

We continued in the foot of snow, heading towards the ski resort which was to close soon, but with a stroke of luck we found light breaking through the nude trees like dawn on a jungle’s canopy, the light rushing between every crack, darkness hiding where it can.

“There we go… We’ll be in heated rooms with hot chocolate in no-“

I jinxed it again.

The safety skiers were finishing their final trip down the slopes and the lights were going out, causing the two of us to panic and make a break for it like desperate survivors on a deserted island. Breaking onto a properly cleared path out from the swamp of snow we sprinted like crazy Kenyans doing a world record for the Olympics yelling and screaming, waving our arms at the employees who, I suppose, looked at us funny, standing completely still as if they were so shocked they were stunned by our appearance from the trees.

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T CLOSE!”

We screamed, and I threw my board at them which got them moving again, dodging the board as they waved back screaming something in Japanese which I know deep down was something vulgar.

So we made it back in time, and as the slopes were closing we were to make our way back to our hotels, being the gentleman I am… or due to the fact that it is common knowledge that many unspeakable acts happen in Japan I decided to walk Clara back to her hotel.


Part 6

“I had… fun… today.”

She stuttered, unsure if she should use the word ‘fun’ as I’m sure getting stuck on an advanced slope, falling off a steep hill, trudging back bogged down in 1 foot of snow was not exactly the conventional idea of fun. But I played along.

“So did I.”

I smiled, and so did she before she started to chuckle.

“Don’t say a word of what happened to my friends if you see any of them!”

I think she was beginning to recall tonight’s events, laughing at the ridiculousness of what we went through.

“Tell on me and I’ll tell on you!”

I joked a threat as we both chuckled, walking on a snow covered pavement at the side of the road leading to the ski slopes. We walked awhile as she looked about her, breathing in the fresh air looking at the surrounding valley and the small active stream that flowed underneath a bridge we were crossing.

“I think I know why you called this beautiful. Why you called loneliness beautiful…”

She stretched and rested her head backwards into both her hands, her fingers interlocking with each other.

“Beautiful only if it’s not TOO lonely.”

I reminded her, I wouldn’t want to be the last man on earth. As beautiful as it is, that’ll be just tragic.


Part 7

Arriving at her hotel, we dusted ourselves off from excess snow and entered into the hotel, the lounge was warm and inviting and so was the guest pianist who played melodious tunes which I could not name. We went straight to the elevator, Clara stressing that she could use a nice long warm bath and so could I.

“So… I suppose this is where I see you off.”

I announced as we stopped outside the elevator as she called it down.

“Yeah… I suppose it is.”

We stared at each other for a minute, our gazes locking, losing ourselves in each other’s eyes for a moment. The bell of the arriving elevator broke it, bringing us back to earth.

“Well, I’m in dire need of a bath, I smell like a soiled hamster.”

She remarked as we smiled, but not because of the humorous comment. The elevator door closed as we locked eyes again, our smiles suddenly disappearing from our faces and a different mood was set. My body moved without thought, leaning in closer to her as she did the same, although I was nervous with a mass of questions stirring in my mind it body ignored it, leaning in until I could smell her scent, which was on the contrary sweet and hypnotic. She leaned but a little more and our lips met, our lips sealing against one another’s, then they parted.

Her cheeks flushed with blood as she stepped back, with a smile on her face, I’m sure I was glowing too.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at the slopes?”

She asked, as she called the elevator again, the bell responding in an instant

“I’ll look for you; I’ll be there the whole day.”

I replied, anticipating our next meeting.

“Good night”

She said, walking into the elevator.

“Sweet dreams.

The door closed as the words left my lips and I headed back outside, back into the cold breezeless night looking at the mountains that surrounded me in their beauty.

I decided I wasn’t too lonely, not anymore.