Going Off Piste

Chapter Seven

Sébastien had a snow mobile waiting for them in the bowl. Somehow, though she had no memory afterwards of how she'd done it, Frankie managed to make her way there safely. It was obvious the moment she saw Sébastien's tense, pale face that Betty had been involved in the accident, an avalanche they had inadvertently triggered themselves by skiing off-piste. But as the rescue helicopter lifted over their heads and banked away towards the lake, she understood the horrible truth that Simon was also absent from the grim-faced group gathered by the lift station. One random act of nature had threatened her whole family. Frankie stepped off her skis, let her poles fall where she stood and climbed up behind the driver of the snow mobile for the short trip down to the village, Sébastien skiing alongside them. At the bottom of the slope, a taxi was waiting to take them to the hospital Simon and Betty had been flown to in Geneva. Sébastien sat beside her on the back seat, shocked and shaking.

"It's all my fault," he said eventually. "I should know the risk of avalanche, it's my job. The snow report said it was safe but I should have known."

Frankie, frozen in horrified silence, was unable to offer any comfort. "Are they...?" she finally managed to whisper.

"They are both alive but they were unconscious," said Sébastien. "At first I panicked. It's so different to the practice exercises we do, when someone you...you care for very much is lying buried under the snow. And you know it's so difficult to find them. You think you see where they have fallen."

Frankie listened in numb horror as, unable to stop himself, the whole terrifying story poured out of Sébastien.

"Then I see Simon's horrible helmet cover," he laughed mirthlessly, "and I dug him out. He is still breathing so I leave him to search for Betty. I know she have only seven minutes until she is in danger of suffocation. I found her, thank god! But she wasn't breathing. I had to breathe for her while I send for help. Simon was crying out for Betty and from pain so I know he is alive." He paused and buried his face in his hands, taking great shuddering gulps of air, then continued. "The hélicoptère arrive very quickly and they give Simon pain relief and oxygen for Betty.

Simon passed out when he knew she was in safe hands. Then I called you guys."

Frankie shuddered, overcome with guilt at the memory of what she had been doing whilst her daughter had been lying fighting for breath under a slab of concrete hard snow. She took Sébastien's hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you, Sébastien, for saving my family. They would surely have skied off-piste whether you were there or not but without you I would have lost them both."

Sébastien's shoulders slumped forwards and he let out a long, shaky breath.

They were dropped at the front of the hospital and with Sébastien's help quickly completed the necessary paperwork and found out what was happening to Simon and Betty. Frankie was very grateful he was there; without him to translate and communicate for her, the whole situation would have been totally bewildering. It seemed that on arriving at the hospital, Simon had been in great discomfort, experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing. An ECG ruled out the heart attack the paramedics had at first feared so he had been sent for X-rays in an attempt to get to the root of the problem. Betty's injuries were far worse. She had regained consciousness on the short flight to the hospital but was in considerable abdominal pain and talked of not being able to feel her legs. The doctors had ordered a CT scan.