They left me behind as I was looking for my goggles on the cold, blustery slope. Itwas a black diamond, one of the hardest trails on the mountain.

It allbegan when my parents announced that we would be going to Vermont as our bigChristmas present. Although I did not ski, I was excited. My brother and sisterwere avid skiers and told me how much fun skiing was. The days in school seemedlike years, but finally it was Christmas.

The car trip was long, boringand uneventful. My brother slept and my sister read and played cards, but I spentmost of the time looking out the window, dreaming about the powder. After eightlong hours, we arrived.

After a few days at Sugarbush, we moved on toanother mountain, Killington. I was intimidated. Clouds covered its top like ablanket. After renting skis, I was ready to tackle the bunny hill with the kidsin my group, but Cindy, our instructor, had other ideas. She decided we wouldtake a few runs on the intermediate trails, which I figured I could deal with, aslong as she went slowly. It wasn't too bad until Cindy thought we were ready forthe black diamond trail. I was too shy to say anything, for fear the other wouldkids laugh at me, but I was terrified.

As we passed through the clouds, Icould see the top. We were so high I thought the air was thinner. It was so coldthat the little hairs in my nostrils seemed frozen. Cindy told us to staytogether - a great idea. I was the last in our group. On the way down, we hitsome moguls, which I had never skiied. I did fine at first, but then I lost it. Ihit one hard and my left ski fell off. I immediately went face first into thesnow and slid many feet on my stomach.

When I got up, I could see thegroup below. I yelled for them to stop, but they could not hear me. I got my skion and started to race after them. When I noticed the wind blinding my eyes, Irealized I had lost my goggles. I climbed back up but they were nowhere to befound. I started to dig and finally found them, and headed back down themountain.

My face was numb, my jacket was filled with snow, and mygroup was out of sight. I got really nervous and started to go faster, totallyout of control. My survival instincts kicked in and somehow I managed to movearound every obstacle, including people.

I finally made it safely down,and found my group in front of the lodge. Although I did not ski again, I learneda valuable lesson that day. I learned to speak up when I'm not comfortable with asituation, and to give my opinion whether it is asked for or not, without fearinghow others might respond.