In front of them lay an area of still untouched snow, bushes sticking just a few tips of their branches above the surface. Rupert warned, “I don’t know exactly what’s behind this area, but I fear it goes straight down.” They took off together and Rupert was ahead to keep everyone at a distance he thought was safe. Taking advantage of the lead, he pressed the back end of his board down into the fresh snow in what was otherwise known as a wheely. In this stance, he carved smoothly though the snow, in and out, barely shifting his weight from side to side, making sure he plowed as much snow as he could.  It was the closest anyone could get to surfing without flowing water. The others followed in similar fashion, staying away from each other's tracks and weaving around snow bumps as their feet sank beneath the snow. Rupert started to move back towards the official path that was starting to move away away from his view, but suddenly he was taken by how the snow had settled between the two high areas he had just tried to evade; A natural half-pipe. This feature began to widen further down the mountain, but did not seem to dip into a canyon.  He went back in its direction and turned his head to see if anyone was following him. Calvin went along with this.   

      “Slow down and wait. Let me check it out first.” Rupert made a few curves on the edges, found that the loss in speed due to all the snow was unsatisfying and sped through the middle.  There was a step at the end of the half-pipe and a depression in the land that followed. He cocked for the jump. As he flew he moved his backhand between his foot bindings and tilted his board. The Indy Grab was the only air trick he knew.   

            They walked up to the groomed slope, every footstep sunk their knees further into the snow as they dragged their gear behind. Exhausted, they got their things back on and headed down back towards the lift. Frank and Julie were some ways down getting back on their snowboards. They were still busy strapping their boots to their boards when Rupert and Calvin reached them. Rupert slid down in front of Frank. “Good thing you didn’t follow us. Back there when I jumped and looked at the snow beneath me, it suddenly dropped down, I’d say, fifteen meters. It was like crossing the crack in a glacier.” 

      Calvin was quick to get his insert into the conversation, “You should have seen him when he landed.  Splat!” He made a motion with his closed fist bursting upon impact with his arm.

      Rupert glared at Calvin as he swung both his arms back and forth ready to keep going. “I meant to land flat on my stomach. Are you kidding? So I could distribute my weight on the snow. From what I could tell, there was only a foot thick sheet of snow holding me up!” 

      Frank and Julie had not gone through such an excitement. Frank had decided to try out the fresh snow that happened to come after the end of the gorge. They had continued down in search of a jeep trail that would take them back to the lift and it was getting pretty steep. They were out of luck and had no other option than to retrace their path back to the slope.  It would have been easy except the snow from the steep incline kept sliding under their feet every other step, even after they made sure to press down lightly with their foot to get a nice solid surface before pressing down again and shifting their weight to that foot. It took forever to get back to the slopes. 

      “Frank, are you tired or something?” Rupert noticed he had been staring blankly at them for the duration of their boasting. 

      A twitch in his eyes signaled his return to the white mountains and people around him. “My feet are so numb!” 

      “I’m beat.  I’m so tired!” Julie was off to the side lying flat and staring above at the sky. She was largely unnoticed, mainly because Rupert and Frank were used to doing a lot things together, just the two of them, and had just recently been looking for others to share their fun with them. 

      Rupert, seeing her exhausted state, and to prevent from falling on the wrong side of this cute, little, young girl, asked; if she was cool with following them even if they went through places that, at times, could be frustrating; if she had fun and didn’t think they were too crazy. “Are you good with slalom? Do you like carving in the snow?" 

      She leaned forwards slightly from her laid position and looked at Rupert. “Yea, sure, I would not mind doing it again.” Her eyebrows rose as if she were amazed that anyone would ask her such a question. 

      “Well, you gained three points right there,” Rupert said before leaning back and taking off again. The other three followed and Frank and Julie were arching themselves back on the way down to reach and move off all that frozen snow that had stuck behind their jackets. 

      They joined their friends again who were waiting for them at the lift. What they had just gone through was not that much of a concern. They still had all day to get in what they wanted, that perfect decent into the expanse of untouched snow. 

      Rupert was at it again. This time though he got carried away and went far ahead of the others, and neglected to stop at the first major fork that separated one side of the ski area, accessible only by one lift, from the rest of the mountain. When he realized he was well past that point he stopped and looked back as his board was plowing down, screeching on a particularly steep, icy patch of snow. He associated such imperfections in the slope to over-grooming.  No time had passed when Calvin came zooming by and caught up with him. “Did you see where the others went?” 

      “No, I just followed you.  Do you know where you’re going?” 

      They made there way to the secluded lift. Rupert stuck his board upright into the snow mound next to the lift’s waiting area, not too far from a log building where skiers came in and out with hot sandwiches and cold beers. He got his cell out to call Frank, but saw no bars on the screen. After waiting fifteen minutes and making a seat in the snow mound from where he stood observing all the people coming down, he asked Calvin to get two cokes from the bar. At this point, if the others showed up, he wanted them to suffer by watching Calvin and him laid out like people enjoying a refreshing drink in the middle of summer. The same group of people headed down to the lift for the third time. “That’s it, Calvin. We’re heading back up!” 

      After having spent what seemed like an eternity in the shadow of the mountain, Rupert and Calvin sat in silence as the lift carried them up the slope. Rupert glanced down at the phone in his hand, wondering when he’d get signal. He looked up at the mountain, and then back at the phone. A single signal bar was blinking on the screen. He hurriedly dialed his brother’s number and slid it under the earflap of his helmet. Calvin stopped looking vacantly at the snowcapped mountain and looked up at his brother, anxiously waiting for anything that would break the monotony of waiting. The phone rang, and rang. Just as Rupert was losing hope of getting hold of the others, Frank answered. “Hello?” 

      “Frank! Where are you guys? We’ve been waiting for you at the bottom of the Red Rock Trail for ages!”  

      “So that’s where you were. We were wondering where you’d gone. Why didn’t you call us sooner?”  

      Rupert made an unbecoming noise, more apt to come from the mouth of an eight year old, “We didn’t have any phone reception!”  

      “Oh. Anyways, we’re at the top of the mountain. We can meet you at the end of your lift. We can decide what to do from there.” 

      “Ok. Hey, what do you think about doing the backcountry down the back towards the Trident Valley?”  

      “Like I said, we can talk about it when we meet you. See ya brother.” Silence.  

      “So what did he say?” Rupert turned back to Calvin.  

      “They’ll meet us at the top of our lift. He didn’t say anything about the backcountry, but we’ll go even if no one else will.” With that, he put his phone away, slipped his hands back into his padded gloves, and sat back passively for the rest of the ride. 

      At the top of the lift, Calvin didn’t even stop to wait for Rupert to strap into his board. They came off the lift and kept going as Rupert strapped in while he glided towards their large group of friends and family. Frank was sitting down talking to Bonnie and Monica when Calvin interrupted their conversation with a small avalanche, covering his brother in snow. “Hey! I’m already wet. I don’t need any of your help with that!” Bonnie used her good hand to collect some of the snow from her broken arm and proceeded to throw it in Franks direction. “Not you too!” 

      “Come on! This is the last slope anyway. You can go and change after this, stop being a cry baby.”  

      Frank shook his head in resignation and looked back at his older brother, “What were you saying about the backcountry?”  

      Rupert slid to a stop, “You know how no one is supposed to go down the back of the mountain? Well, I think it would be the perfect place to go to find fresh snow.” Everyone turned to Mark, as he’d been skiing on the sloped for well over the past forty years, and he’d probably been over every inch of it at this point.  

      He thought for a moment, “It would be a nice run. The only thing about it is that it is dangerous, especially if you stay in the middle of the back of the mountain, where it goes straight down. If you stick to the edges, it shouldn’t be too bad.”  

      Frank looked at his brothers, “Well then, I guess that decides it. Lets go!”  

      Bonnie looked crestfallen when Mark supported the backcountry run, “I don’t think I can do that with this arm. I can just meet you guys back at your house o.k.?”  

      Monica gave her cousins a pointed look, and then back at Frank and his siblings, “We’re tired, so we might as well just go down the groomed slopes, and we’ll meet you guys down at your house alright?” Henry didn’t really like backcountry anyway. He couldn’t build up decent speed going down the backcountry, not like going down a groomed slope anyway.  

      Julie had different ideas, “I’m not tired. I want to go down the backcountry. Can I go dad?”  

      Mark looked at the young men his daughter wanted to go with “Sure. Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll go back down with the others.”  

      Frank looked around, “So that’s settled, I guess we’ll be seeing you all later?”  

      Monica nodded, “See you guys!” and they headed down the slope.  

      Susie looked at the older girls, and then back at her crazy brother, “I’m tired. I’ll just go home with them.” Her brothers looked at her, surprise and disappointment written all over their faces. Susie headed down the groomed slope, followed by a chorus of her older brothers, “Wimp!!” 

      Rupert got up, and smoothly made his way to the back of the mountain. The other three followed him smoothly on the fresh snow. About a hundred meters over, Rupert stopped to look, and with a yell, Calvin started down the slope. Not about to be out done by their younger brother, Frank and Rupert threw caution to the side and followed suit. Julie was a little slower on the uptake, but she followed just as fast. The four were speeding down a mountainside of untouched snow, yelling and crowing as they went. They would turn gracefully around mounds of snow, racing to the edges of small depressions and gliding into the natural half pipes. Rupert went down with his usual grace, careful not destroy his image, making perfect cuts in the snow. Calvin simply went down, hopping in and out of the deep snow, showering everyone who came close. Frank was just as graceful as his older brother, but instead of being the image of perfection, he came down completely relaxed, flowing into and out of his turns, enjoying every moment he surfed over the snow. Julie was a little rough, pausing as she turned, occasionally sliding down sideways, but she came stolidly, refusing to let the other three get ahead of her. 

      Calvin stopped to wait for them about ten yards from the trees, and looked back up the slope. He could see the straight, dotted line he’d made coming down, escorted by three flowing lines snaking their way down. Then his two older brothers speed by right next to him, covering him in snow and passing with laughter filling the air. “I’ll get you guys!” and he sped right after them. Julie passed a moment later, gritting her teeth as she concentrated on the trees she speeding towards. 

      Rupert was the first to reach the tree line, and he wove his way through them as if they didn’t even exist. They were still widely spaced out giving plenty of room to maneuver. Frank followed his track so that the two of them left only a single line in the snow. Calvin sped after them, closely followed by Julie. As the trees grew thicker, the four slowed down, until finally, it was no longer a mad rush for excitement, but a race at who could avoid running into a tree the longest. Rupert continued with his usual care. Calvin disregarded the trees and used the greater mobility of his skis to continue with his mad dash. Julie came down slowly, avoiding any major trees, and slowly losing sight of the others. Frank didn’t have his older brother’s desire for perfection, so he continued his mad dash, going through branches, scratching his jacket, and being very messy about it. Suddenly a tree appeared in front of him. He reached for the tree next to him, grabbed it, and made a ninety-degree turn around the tree, avoiding the tree he was about to hit straight on. To bad it hadn’t been the only tree around. He ran smack into a fallen log, and went flying over it in what was a somersault of sorts, landing on his feet and still going. He stopped, and shook his head, still not believing what had just happened. 

      Julie sped by, laughing now that she wasn’t the last in line, and racing towards Rupert who had now started to make his way across the mountain instead of simply going straight down. Frank shook his head, and followed right behind her. The forest grew thicker and thicker, growing darker as the sun continued to set. The three snowboarders kept going at about the same pace, keeping each other in sight and helping each other out of ditches and falls they inevitably fell into. By now they had completely lost sight of Calvin, having only his tracks to tell them that he was somewhere ahead. 

      Suddenly they broke out of the forest onto on to forest road, and a sight covered in light. Calvin stood there, outlined against the setting Sun and looking anxiously into the forest. When he saw them he relaxed and motioned towards the view. The Sun was setting behind the three mountain tops directly across the valley, and below them was a plain of completely untouched snow, sloping gently downwards to an alpine restaurant that sat in the middle of the valley. It was perfect. They stood there, gazing at the glowing snow ahead of them. Rupert and Frank looked at each other, and at the same time they said, “Let’s all go at once guys.”  

      The two younger ones looked at them, “Heck yes.”  

      They lined up along the edges of the road, “Ready?” Rupert looked at the other three. This was what he’d wanted to find all winter break. This was why he’d set his alarm so early, why he’d gotten up and come to the lopes. He’d had fun, but this was what it was all for, the untouched snow that made the perfect slope. “Go!” All four leaned forward and glided down the mountain. Frank looked around as he went down, thinking that this was all very familiar, as he’d dreamed about it before, something about flying over a mountain and loving it.